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Thirty Years on the 
Firing-line 

Shots from the Battery of Truth 



Which have been somewhat effective against 
the entrenchments of sin, the follies of our 
day, and the errors of the religious world 



BY 

EVANGELIST SYLVESTER MITCHELL MARTIN, A.M.,M.D. 

SEATTLE 




CINCINNATI 

THE STANDARD PUBLISHING COMPANY 



COPYRIGHT, 1920. 
THE STANDARD PUBLISHING COMPANY , 



*$ 



JUN I8i920 



A571335 



CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Foreword 5 

Personal 7 

Introduction 9 

I 
Personality in Evangelism 11 

II 
Safety First „ „ 17 

III 
Love 's Triumph _ „„„_ 25 

IV 
Are You Fit to Live? „.„„ 34 

V 
What Church Shall I Join? 50 

VI 
Christian Union and the Disciples of Christ... 60 

VII 

The Divinity of Christ 70 

3 



CONTENTS 



VIII 

What Is Eeligion ? 85 

IX 

The Christian and His Diseases 95 

X 

Infant Baptism „ 103 

XI 
What Is Baptism? 117 

XII 
The Communion, or the Lord's Supper 129 

XIII 
Opportunity „ „ 141 

XIV 
Marriage and DrvoRCE „ 155 

XV 
Christian Science a Fraud, and Mrs. Eddy an 
' ' Antichrist ' ' - 169 

XVI 
The Second Coming op Christ and the End 

of the World 195 

Some Questions Asked and Answered in Be 

vival Meetings -~ — ^H 

4 



FOREWORD 

PAINFULLY aware of my limitations, yet joy- 
ously conscious that God has used me as one 
of the "weak things of this world' ' in blessing 
many by the preaching of the gospel through an 
uninterrupted period of more than thirty years of 
continuous evangelism, and having been urged to 
leave some of my discourses in permanent form, I 
have at last gotten my own reluctant consent to 
undertake the task, and herewith present the 
result. 



PERSONAL 

1WAS born near Antioch, Monroe County, Ohio, 
August 16, 1857. "Born again" on August 23, 
1875, at Stafford, Ohio. My first birth might have 
been nothing short of a calamity had it not been 
for the second. My father was Enoch Martin; my 
mother, Nancy Huffman Martin. I have one 
brother, Roseberry A. Martin, of Los Angeles, 
California. I was married December 23, 1876, to 
"Mary" Catharine Barnes, of Summerfield, Ohio. 
Our three children — "the girls" — are "Nina," 
"Lela" and "Minnie." We have four grandsons; 
viz., Charles Martin Hatcher, Richard Martin 
Thatcher, Robert Martin Shuey and Franklin 
Martin Shuey. 

I was ordained to the ministry by the church at 
Bowling Green, Missouri, on the 19th of July, 1885, 
having been a teacher for thirteen years, and for 
the next two years I combined the two professions. 
In the spring of 1888 I was called to be the 
State evangelist of Missouri, beginning the work 
April 24, and continuing until July 1, 1891, at 
which time I entered the field as an independent 
general evangelist of the churches of Christ, 



INTRODUCTION 

THE outstanding personnel of a great movement 
is always interesting. Who originated it? Who 
carried it on to success? These are among the 
questions the historian asks. 

The Restoration movement has already acquired 
a large place in religious history, and its phenom- 
enal growth and influence will interest future his- 
torians tremendously. 

The names of influential men will shine in the 
history of each period of the movement to restore 
apostolic Christianity, and among them will be the 
name of S. M. Martin. For thirty years he has 
served continuously as an evangelist in the field, 
and the great meetings he has held have left an 
impress which time will not erase. 

This eloquent preacher is not yet an old man — 
he is in the prime of life, and is still in country- 
wide demand. He is ever "booked up" a year or 
more, and wherever he goes the crowds gather and 
the community is stirred. 

S. M. Martin has never been known to put on 
the "soft pedal," nor has he delivered the Restora- 
tion message in a way that repelled. In choice 
language and with eloquent tongue he has pro- 
9 



INTRODUCTION 



claimed the gospel in the spirit of love. Hence, 
the great success which has attended his ministry. 

For years his friends have urged him to have 
a few of his great sermons preserved in book form. 
When, some years ago, he held a meeting for me in 
Columbus, 0., I insisted that he should issue a 
book of sermons. He suggested that he might — 
some day. 

He finally decided the matter and requested 
me to write a brief introduction to the book. Hav- 
ing heard the sermons presented in this volume 
delivered, and having also read them in manu- 
script, I can most heartily commend them as mes- 
sages that should be read by every disciple of 
Christ in the land. They are entertaining and in- 
structive, and they will therefore be doubly profit- 
able to the reader. The book will likewise be val- 
uable to lend to one's neighbor, whether he be an 
inquiring believer or a man of the world. 

Geo. P. Rutledge. 

Cincinnati, 0., Feb. 27, 1920. 



10 



PERSONALITY IN EVANGELISM 



I 

PERSONALITY IN EVANGELISM 

A STRONG personality has always been re- 
garded as a very important factor in the 
equipment of a successful evangelist. He should 
possess those characteristics which challenge the 
attention instantly, and impress favorably and 
strongly. He thus secures predisposition in favor 
of his message. Personality is merely the sum 
total of those qualities of body, mind and spirit 
which stand out prominently, and tend to predis- 
pose the hearer in favor of the speaker and assure 
a more favorable consideration of his message. 

Natural characteristics may be advantageous or 
otherwise. If unfavorable, they should be counter- 
acted as far as possible, and all natural endow- 
ments should be supplemented by every acquired 
grace and accomplishment. 

Even the most attractive people will not be at- 
tractive to everybody, while the least attractive will 
be able to impress some people favorably. 

The more nearly one approaches to mental, 
moral, physical and spiritual perfection, the 
11 



THIRTY YEARS ON THE FIRING-LINE 

stronger will be the personality; and glaring de- 
fects in any one or all of these particulars, will 
weaken the personality correspondingly. 

Physical endowments are first noticed, then 
mental accomplishments will be flashed upon the 
attention, followed by a discernment of the moral 
qualities; and lastly the spirituality of the indi- 
vidual will be in evidence. Eeal spirituality is 
never obtrusive, and that person whose religion is 
always painful to other people, lacks both spiritu- 
ality and mentality. 

Most of the great union evangelists have been 
men of striking physique; e. g., Moody, Chapman, 
Torrey and Gipsy Smith. 

The same is true of our own evangelists. I do 
not mean that they are handsome men, though 
some of them are that. But they are strong, 
healthy, even athletic men, and have good bodies, 
and are thus able to stand the greatest amount of 
effectual labor. The demands on the physical 
strength of the evangelist are very great. 

As far as possible, the evangelist should be free 
from offensive mannerisms, and all habits of doubt- 
ful propriety, such as the use of tobacco and other 
narcotics. A fine, commanding, attractive physique 
is exceedingly advantageous. But where one is 
not possessed of such a presence, then superior 
mental accomplishments may largely compensate 
for the defect. Physical and mental endowments 
supplement each other, and each renders the other 
12 



PERSONALITY IN EVANGELISM 

more effectual. Personal influence is often called 
"personal magnetism." The expression is often 
heard: "Christ alone can save, but Christ can not 
save alone." We might also say: "We alone can 
save ourselves, but we can not save ourselves 
alone." We are workers together with Christ in 
our own salvation and in the salvation of others. 
The preaching of the gospel is committed unto men, 
not to angels. "It pleased God by the foolishness 
[simplicity] of preaching to save them that be- 
lieve" (1 Cor. 1:21). Strong personality increases 
the effectiveness of our preaching. 

Magnetism is that force or power in nature 
which gives rise to the phenomena of attraction. 

This power was first noticed in protoxide, or 
octohedral iron — natural magnetic iron ore. Arti- 
ficial magnets are now made which are capable of 
lifting forty thousand pounds at one time when 
charged with a powerful current of electricity. 

Magnetism exerts its power by attraction, while 
steam and gasoline are repulsive forces. 

The work and transforming power of the gospel 
are accomplished by attraction. Christ says: "If 
I be lifted up, I will draw all men unto me" 
(John 12:32). People are attractive, or magnetic, 
when they are Christlike. We must be magnetized 
by having "Christ in us the hope of glory." 

The force and value of a great magnet depend 
upon the proper treatment of the metal of which 
it is made. The same is true of the religious 
13 



THIRTY YEARS ON THE FIRING-LINE 

force of men and women. Even at the best, we 
have our limitations; so has the most powerful 
magnet. The most powerful evangelist will not be 
able to attract and convert all who hear him. Paul 
says: "But we have this treasure in earthen ves- 
sels, that the excellency of the power may be of 
God, and not of us." 

God's power to save is the gospel. Satan's 
power to destroy is anything that opposes or ren- 
ders the gospel ineffective. 

As the gospel is applied through us, whatever 
will increase our personal influence will render 
the gospel more effectual as a drawing, rescuing, 
saving power. 

This gospel current is conveyed to the world 
very largely through evangelistic effort, hence we 
should have such training and equipment as will 
make us the most powerful in drawing people to 
Christ. 

Certain rules have been formulated by writers 
on the subject of personal magnetism, the observ- 
ance of which has been found to greatly augment 
the personal force or attractiveness of the indi- 
vidual. I will note some of these rules: (1) Cheer- 
fulness; (2) gentleness; (3) self-control, coolness; 
(4) a steady eye; (5) courage; (6) perfect mastery 
of temper; (7) a pleasing, modulated voice; (8) 
personal neatness and cleanliness; (9) good health 
(or no complaint of illness) ; (10) politeness; (11) 
work, work, work; (12) charity for all. 
14 



PERSONALITY IN EVANGELISM 

The application of these rules will give one 
power over others for either good or evil, being 
merely personal qualities which render their pos- 
sessor attractive, or influential. If the possessor 
is a sinner, he will be an influential sinner, but if 
he is a Christian, he will have much power in 
leading people to Christ. 

The Christian's power will be in proportion to 
his faith in God, and his faithfulness in service, 
adding the above rules. 

There are very few people who are so perfectly 
and harmoniously developed as to show no defects, 
especially to those who are most intimately asso- 
ciated with them. It is these flaws and defects 
which "get on our nerves,' ' and when we get on 
people's nerves, we have lost our magnetism so far 
as they are concerned. 

The personal element, or mere personal regard, 
must never be used to induce people to merely 
join the church in order to please the preacher. 
It should be used only to forcefully apply the 
divine message, which is the saving power. Some 
people exert their power spasmodically, like a 
broken trolley-wire, writhing, twisting, spitting fire 
and producing consternation, and even death. They 
seem to burn out the transformer, or the fuse ! We 
should be earnest and constant, a dependable force, 
and not erratic fanatics! 

Self-indulgent, unconsecrated disciples do not 
attract people to Christ. They are demagnetized. 
15 



THIRTY YEARS ON THE FIRING-LINE 

The unconverted sinner has a very high ideal as 
to how a Christian ought to live, and of how he, 
himself, is going to live when he joins the church. 
A young lady, a member of the church, went to 
talk to a young gentleman of her acquaintance on 
the subject of his becoming a Christian. He lis- 
tened rather impatiently for a few minutes, and 
then said: "See here, Jennie, you are not the one 
to talk to me." She asked, "Why?" and he re- 
plied: "I've seen you too often in the ballroom, 
and I don't think that's any place for a Christian 
to go." The ballroom had demagnetized her so 
that she had no influence to bring the young man 
to Christ. 

Occasionally there is found one whose person- 
ality is so strong, and whose influence is so trans- 
cendent, as to provoke wonder and amazement. 
They become great leaders, and are accused of 
hypnotism, or are accredited with supernatural 
powers. Illustrations will readily occur to my 
readers. We should never allow the strong person- 
ality of the messenger to obscure the person of 
Christ, or the message of salvation, and neither 
men nor angels should take honor or glory, which 
belongs to God alone. "And I fell at his feet to 
worship him. And he said unto me, See thou do 
it not: I am thy fellow-servant, and of thy breth- 
ren that have the testimony of Jesus: worship 
God" (Rev. 19:10). 



16 



SAFETY FIRST 



II 

SAFETY FIRST 

Text. — "Sirs, what must I do to be saved?' * — Acts 16: 30. 

THIS is the greatest question ever asked by 
human lips, and the greatest one that Heaven 
has ever condescended to answer. 

"In all cases of doubt and uncertainty the safe 
course must be taken, and no risks run" ("Guide 
to Railroad Employees") . 

An employee of the Gulf Eoad, the day after 
he had obeyed the gospel, handed me a slip of 
paper upon which were written the above words. 
He said: "I have never violated that rule as a 
railroad man, and no accident has ever been trace- 
able to me, but I have been more faithful to the 
railroad than to myself, and I decided last night to 
run no more risks with my soul." 

There are thirty-four thousand persons killed 
on the railroads in this country every twelve 
months, or one every fifteen minutes. Twenty-five 
thousand of these are due to the violation of that 
one rule. We should certainly be as cautious in 
matters pertaining to the soul as in those pertain- 

2 17 



THIRTY YEARS ON THE FIRING-LINE 

ing to ordinary business. Why take risks when 
there is an absolutely safe course? Life here has 
a limit; that beyond has none, hence the import- 
ance of being safe in our religion. 

"We shall not attempt to settle the many con- 
troverted points of religion any further than to 
show an honest, conscientious person what is a&- 
solutely safe in any event, and "Safety First' ' 
will point the way. "We make but one trip. 

Faith versus Unbelief. 

The believer risks nothing if there is nothing 
to lose. Infidelity takes away everything and gives 
you nothing. It knows nothing, believes nothing, 
promises nothing, hopes for nothing. 

Mr. Campbell, in his introduction of the debate 
with Robert Owen, the world champion of infidel- 
ity, in 1829, said: "Infidelity, as opposed to Chris- 
tianity, is not an institution, but a mere negation 
of an institution, and of the facts and documents 
on which it is founded. It has no essential formal 
existence. It has no facts and documents, and 
therefore it has no proofs. It merely assails Chris- 
tianity, but offers no substitute for it, and it has 
none to offer." 

John A. Bingham, of Ohio, once said to Mr. 
Ingersoll: "Robert, if you are right and I am 
wrong, neither of us will ever know it; but if I 
am right and you are wrong, I shall be conscious 
of it, and so will you, throughout eternity." 
18 



SAFETY FIRST 



It is always safe to hold to what you have 
until you find something better. 

When Ingersoll was to lecture in Little Rock 
in 1898, a drunken Irishman said to me: "You 
preachers is afther Bob, and I'm on your side, 
for if Bob's right, the preacher is safe, but if the 
preacher is right, Bob's in a bad fix!" If Chris- 
tianity is true, then "he that believeth not shall 
be damned," and the infidel runs the risk; the 
faithful Christian is safe. 

Universalism versus Orthodoxy. 

Universalism is very broad and liberal. It de- 
mands nothing of saint or sinner, but promises 
salvation to both. If all are to be saved, the 
Christian will be included, and is safe in spite of 
his Christianity; but if the Christian only is safe, 
then the Universalist is lost for lack of Christianity. 
Universalism is a risk; Christianity is safe. 

Baptism versus No Baptism. 

Is baptism (in water) essential? I do not need 
to know. You do not need to know. John "Wesley 
said: "God has bound us to it, though he may not 
have bound himself." So, you attend to it, and 
you will be safe. You know it is one of God's 
commands ; it is safe to obey, and unsafe to disobey. 

Those who are baptized do right, and those who 
do right are safe. The unbaptized occupy the 
unsafe ground; the baptized occupy the safe 
ground, and that is what we are searching for. 
19 



THIRTY YEARS ON THE FIRING-LINE 

Immersion versus Spprinkling and Pouring. 

Even when the safety and importance of bap- 
tism are conceded, the question arises, "What is 
baptism f Is it immersion only, or is it also sprink- 
ling and pouring? Here again we answer, You 
do not need to know. Just select the form of bap- 
tism which is not in doubt, and has never been in 
question, and you will be safe. 

John Calvin says: "It is certain that immer- 
sion was the practice of the ancient church. The 
very word 'baptize' signifies 'to immerse' " (" In- 
stitutes," Book IV., Ch. XV., Sec. 19). 

Philip Schaff says. "Immersion, and not sprink- 
ling, was unquestionably the original normal form" 
("History of the Apostolic Church," pp. 568, 
569). 

Joseph Henry Thayer — "Harvard University" 
Lexicon — says: "Christian baptism — this, accord- 
ing to the view of the apostles, is a rite of sacred 
immersion commanded by Christ." The real 
scholars of the world teach and affirm that immer- 
sion was the primitive, apostolic baptism. 

Jesus was baptized but once, hence but one way. 
Were you baptized as He was? Paul says: "We 
were buried with Mm in baptism." If I owed you 
$20, and I tendered you in payment a $20 gold 
coin, and my personal note for $20, and your 
pastor's note for $20 with my endorsement, which 
would you accept? Ah, the $20 gold coin, of 
20 



SAFETY FIRST 



course! My note may be good, your pastor's note 
may be even better, but you are absolutely safe 
in taking the coin, for it is money, and the notes 
are substitutes for money. Immersion is baptism, 
while sprinkling and pouring are substitutes for it. 
They may pass, but it is a risk. Christ commanded 
baptism, and practiced immersion. 

The Pope substituted pouring for immersion. 
John Calvin substituted sprinkling for pouring 
(says Dr. Wall). Each of these endorses the other, 
both endorse Christ's immersion, while Christ en- 
dorses neither of these substitutes. 

Jesus was baptized "into the Jordan" (eis ton 
Jordanen), and all the persons of the Godhead 
witnessed and participated in it. 

Jesus said: " Suffer it to be so now." The 
Father said: "This is my beloved Son, in whom 
I am well pleased.' ' The Spirit descended as a 
dove and abode upon him. Baptism is the only 
thing which is commanded to be done in the name 
of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost. Here is where 
the entire name of the Godhead is recorded. As 
God's name was recorded in Jerusalem, and there 
the Passover was kept, and there God met to bless 
the children of Israel (see Deut. 16 : 16 ; 2 Chron. 
6:6; 12:13), so he meets us here when we are 
baptized into the name of the Father, Son and 
Holy Ghost. It is certainly safe to be baptized 
(immersed), and unsafe to refuse or neglect it, or 
substitute anything else for it. 
21 



THIRTY YEARS ON THE FIRING-LINE 

The Name "Christian" versus Other Names. 

Some names are important, others are not. The 
importance of a name depends upon what it rep- 
resents. "The disciples were called Christians 
first at Antioch" (Acts 11:26). Whether this 
name was given in derision by their enemies, or 
by the Holy Spirit (as I believe), it was most ap- 
propriate. "For this cause I bow my knees unto 
the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of whom the 
whole family in heaven and earth is named " (Eph. 
3:14, 15). 

A. J. Gordon ("Ministry of the Spirit," p. 
206) says: "It was not by accident or as a term 
of derision that the first believers received their 
name, but the disciples were divinely called Chris- 
tians first at Antioch." This was the name pre- 
ordained for them — that "honorable name by which 
ye are called" (Jas. 2:7). John Wesley said: 
"Would to God that all party names and unscrip- 
tural phrases and forms were forgot." Albert 
Barnes says: "Should not, and will not, all these 
divisions yet be merged into the high and holy 
name * Christian'?" Henry Ward Beecher once 
said at the communion table: "Let me speak the 
language of heaven and call you simply ' Chris- 
tians. ' " 

Christ is the Bridegroom; the church is the 
Bride. You would not want your wife to wear 
some other man's name as long as you are living. 



SAFETY FIRST 



''The wife is bound by the law as long as her 
husband liveth; but if her husband be dead, she 
is at liberty to be married to whom she will; only 
in the Lord" (1 Cor. 7:39). But Jesus is not 
dead, and we are not at liberty to be married to 
any other, or to wear any other man's name, such 
as Luther, Calvin, Wesley, Campbell, Methodist, 
Baptist or Presbyterian. 

Four years after the death of my father, my 
mother married a good Christian man, as she had 
a Scriptural right to do, but it never did seem 
just right to me to hear my mother called by any 
other name than Martin — though in this case it 
was right, for my father was dead. But it is 
not right to put some other name where the name 
of our living Lord belongs. No name is good 
enough to be substituted for His, and I protest 
against it. I love and honor Luther, Calvin, Wes- 
ley and Campbell, but neither of them is my 
Saviour; neither of them shed his blood or died 
for me. I will not, I must not, wear their names, 
not even jokingly; it is too serious for that. 

But some one asks: "What right have you to 
the name 'Christian,' or to say you belong to the 
church of Christ, or church of God?" I answer: 
"No exclusive right, but merely the same right 
that any saved person has. I merely deny to 
myself, and to all others, the right to wear any 
other name, or names, than those given in the Book 
of God." "The Lord added to the church, day by 
23 



THIRTY YEARS ON THE FIRING-LINE 

day, those that were being saved " (Acts 2:47). 
It is absolutely safe to believe in Jesus Christ as 
the Son of God; to repent (for "God now com- 
mandeth all men everywhere to repent") ; to con- 
fess Him before men ("If you confess him, he will 
confess you, but if you deny him, he will deny 
you") ; to be baptized (immersed) into the name 
of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost, to wear His 
name, and to be faithful unto the end, for "he that 
endureth unto the end shall be saved.'' 



24 



LOVE'S TRIUMPH 



III 
LOVE'S TRIUMPH 

Texts. — "Now thanks be unto God, which always causeth 
us to triumph in Christ. ' ' — 2 Cor. 2 : 14. 

"And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but 
the greatest of these is charity" (or love). — 1 Cor. 13: 13. 

GOD loved us while we were yet sinners, and 
sent Christ, who also loved us and gave Him- 
self for us, and ' ' we love him because he first loved 
us." Salvation is love's triumph, beginning, mid- 
dle and ending. 

But triumph implies enemies. If we gain a 
triumph, it must be over something that is against 
us. The Christian has enemies, and these are class- 
ified in the Bible as the world, the flesh and the 
devil. I sometimes call these the "trinity of hell. ,, 
These all lead to one result, and that is sin, "and 
sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death.' ' 
John says: "Love not the world, neither the things 
that are in the world. If any man love the world, 
the love of the Father is not in him" (1 John 
2:15). It is all right for Christians to be in the 
world, because the world needs them in order to 
25 



THIRTY YEARS ON THE FIRING-LINE 

give it light and salvation, but it is all wrong when 
the world gets into the Christian! 

The flesh is another enemy. Gal. 5:17: ' ' The 
flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit 
against the flesh: and these are contrary the one 
to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that 
ye would. ' ' Also read Rom. 7 : 15-25. 

It is not possible to convert the flesh. The flesh 
can not obey God. But the mind is converted, and 
with that we serve God, and with the mind we 
control the flesh through the Spirit. ' ' So then with 
the mind I myself serve the law of God; but with 
the flesh the law of sin" (Rom. 7:25). " There is 
therefore now no condemnation to them which are 
in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but 
after the Spirit" (Rom. 8:1). 

The devil is the third of these enemies. 1 Pet. 
5:8: "Be sober, be vigilant; because your adver- 
sary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, 
seeking whom he may devour." 

These enemies are all aggressive; we do not 
have to go out and hunt for them. We are in the 
flesh, and in the world, and the devil seems to be 
in many of us! 

But whether we are controlled by the world, the 
flesh or the devil, the result is sin, sin, sin! 

So we must triumph over sin. There are three 
things about sin over which we must triumph. 
They are: (1) The love of sin; (2) the power of 
sin; (3) the guilt of sin. 
26 



LOVE'S TRIUMPH 



We overcome the love of sin by the change of 
heart; this is brought about by faith. 

We overcome the power of sin by that reforma- 
tion of life which is brought about by repentance. 

We overcome the guilt of sin through pardon, 
when we are baptized. See Acts 2 : 38 and Acts 
22 : 16. 

The next enemy we must triumph over is the 
grave, and that will be in the resurrection. 

The last enemy to be overcome is the second 
death, or the lake of fire, which follows the great 
judgment-day. If our names are written in the 
Lamb's Book of life, He will confess us there, and 
all danger will be past, all enemies overcome for- 
ever. "Now thanks be unto God, which always 
causeth us to triumph in Christ." 

How thankful we should be, and how full of 
rejoicing, yet many of us never say anything about 
it. The victories we have in Christ ought to set 
"the joy-bells ringing"! We ought to shout and 
sing our gratitude, and tell our love for Him. Do 
you love the Saviour? Then say so. 

Some men never tell their wives that they love 
them. They should do so, for there never was a 
woman who was not made happier and better by 
kind, loving words of appreciation from her hus- 
band. George Eliot says: "I like not only to be 
loved, but to be told that I am loved; the realm of 
silence is large enough beyond the grave." And 
there never was a man so mean, careless, hard- 
27 



THIRTY YEARS ON THE FIRING-LINE 

hearted and hateful that he could not be touched 
by a " little bit of love." 

Parents, do you love your children? Of course 
you do, but do you tell them so? This is the 
great mistake which many parents make. It was 
the mistake made by my own father, as the follow- 
ing will show: Friends have told me that I was 
considered a pretty bad boy — not vicious or wicked, 
but one of the mischievous, nerve-wrecking kind. 
My father evidently shared fully in this opinion, 
and his frequent efforts for my correction were 
painful — extremely so. I came to believe that 
father and I were never intended for each other. 
I remember wondering if I had not been an 
orphan boy adopted by my parents. I was nearing 
my fourteenth birthday. From my earliest recol- 
lection I had been whipped unmercifully for what 
I now regard as trivial offenses — things for which 
children are but mildly reprimanded these days. 
I look back to those days with bitterness, but I do 
not censure my father. He knew no better, and 
was himself the victim of circumstances, which in 
turn made me the victim of the unspared rod. My 
father was Jiis father's oldest son, and became a 
schoolteacher about the time his two younger broth- 
ers were born. He was the teacher of his own 
brothers and sisters, of whom there were eight. 
My grandparents delegated to him the control and 
discipline of the children at home as well as at 
school, and it was no unusual thing for him to 
28 



LOVE'S TRIUMPH 



punish them any time, anywhere. I was my 
father's oldest son, and the first grandson. Two of 
my uncles were only five and seven years older 
than myself. I think I was spoiled, and of course 
my father must punish me for even slight offenses, 
to justify the tight rein he held over his brothers 
and sisters. They feared him, and so did I. As I 
grew older, my whippings grew more severe and 
dreadful. As already mentioned, I was nearing my 
fourteenth birthday — a lusty boy, with big bare 
feet. Father was easily provoked, and I was always 
running foul of his temper. He could not bear to 
be contradicted, and contradiction was my fatal 
weakness. I had escaped whipping for some time, 
when, one day, I happened to contradict a state- 
ment he had made to some one in my presence. 
His face flushed like fire, and I knew a storm was 
coming! He ordered me to an unoccupied apart- 
ment, to await an interview with him. I retired 
to the room, closed the door and proceeded to get 
very angry. I resolved Tie should never whip me 
again, and, should he attempt it, as I expected 
him to do, I would fight! Oh, how wicked! (I was 
not a Christian then, not until &ve years later.) I 
waited. some minutes, then the door opened and he 
entered. I was standing. The psychological mo- 
ment had come. To my surprise, he was not angry 
or excited. He asked me to sit down and he sat 
down close, facing me. He began to talk to me 
mildly, kindly, tenderly. I was dumb with amaze- 
29 



THIRTY YEARS ON THE FIRING-LINE 

merit! It had never been so before. What did 
it all mean? Was I dreaming? Then, with his big 
blue eyes full of tears, he said, for the first time in 
my life: "Ves, I love you, and it hurts me for you 
to do wrong." I was speechless; a big lump had 
been rising in my throat, and now it seemed I must 
choke. I burst into sobs, and promised not to 
contradict him any more, and asked his forgiveness. 
I told him I didn't know he loved me; that I 
thought he hated me, and would be glad if I were 
dead, and that I had always thought so. When 
he asked how and why I could think such awful 
things, I told him of how he had beaten me all my 
life, but never, never before had he said he loved 
me. From that day until his death all was changed. 
I had found my father's heart and he had found 
mine. Oh, how we loved each other! His love 
had saved me, saved us both. 

Many children are heart-hungry. It may be 
yours. A father, who was away from home much 
of the time, had several children, the youngest a 
little girl some five years old. One day he had 
some work requiring his undisturbed attention. 
He asked "mamma" to keep the baby away from 
his room for a time, but the child eluded the vigi- 
lance of mother and got into her father's presence 
— not once, but twice, and then a third time — 
when he scolded her and threatened to punish her 
if she bothered him any more. As she left the 
room she stopped at the door and said: "Papa, 
30 



LOVE'S TRIUMPH 



do you love your little girl?" "Why, yes, of 
course papa loves you, but you must not bother me 
when I am busy. ' ' As she closed the door she said : 
11 Well, if you love me, den I like to hear you say 
so sometimes." That's it! they like to hear us say 
so sometimes. I've had my children to ask me a 
dozen times a day if I loved them. They just liked 
to hear me say so! And parents like to hear the 
children say, "I love you, papa;" "I love you, 
mamma." And when you write a letter to them, 
don't fail to write those precious words, "I love 
you." 

I don't think the "Prodigal Son" knew that 
his father loved him, and that's one chief reason 
the boy wanted to get away — seeking for love. If 
he had known there was more love at home than 
anywhere else, he would have remained there. Boys 
and girls will not run away from homes where love 
is outspoken. An only daughter of a rich widow in 
London, tiring of the restraint of an exacting 
mother, ran away from home. All efforts to find 
the daughter were unavailing. Years passed. The 
mother was broken-hearted. The daughter, having 
concealed her identity, was without means and 
friends, and she fell into sin, and went down, 
down, down! But the mother heart went out after 
her, and a message was posted — a picture of the 
mother, below which were the words: "Mother 
loves you, daughter; come home." The wretched 
girl saw the picture — it was her mother! She read 
31 



THIRTY YEARS ON THE FIRING-LINE 

the words. "Oh, can it be? Does mother love 
me?" She had never heard those words before. 
"Yet that is mother's picture, and I am her only- 
child. It must mean me! Ah, she does not know 
what I am now. Her love is for her ideal daugh- 
ter, not this real one! She does not want me to 
come home." 

But the message kept ringing in her heart, and 
wherever she looked she saw the picture and read 
the precious message, "Daughter, come home." So 
in the darkness of the night she wended her way 
to the mansion of her mother. She stood on the 
opposite side of the street and looked longingly 
at what had once been her unhappy home, but she 
thought of mother and the words "I love you." 
She crossed over and entered the gate. The night 
is cold and damp. She walks slowly towards the 
house, but has no intention of entering it. She 
is thinking, thinking of the past. Her heart beats 
fast. She reaches the door — that old familiar door ; 
she puts her trembling hand on the latch — and, 
horror! it opens, and a watchman is there and de- 
mands an explanation of her presence. She begs 
to be allowed to go quietly away, protesting that 
she meant no harm. But her appearance and the 
lateness of the hour are against her. At last she 
explains that this was once her home; that she is 
the poor, unfortunate daughter of the owner of 
the place. ' ' Then, I can not let you go. This door 
has never been locked since you went away, and a 



LOVE'S TRIUMPH 



watchman is kept here night and day to welcome 
you should you return. We must call your mother ; 
she has waited for you long. ' ' 

Love's message had drawn the wanderer back, 
and love's welcome was awaiting her. It is so with 
the sinner to-day. "We love him because he first 
loved us," and "the goodness of God leadeth us 
to repentance." 

God loves us and has told us so, and He wants 
us to love Him with all our mind and strength, 
and to tell Him so. Jesus says: "If you love me, 
keep my commandments." "For this is the love 
of God, that we keep his commandments." 



33 



THIRTY YEARS ON THE FIRING-LINE 



IV 

ARE YOU FIT TO LIVE? 

Text. — " Prepare to meet thy God." — Amos 4: 12. 

THESE are words of awful solemnity, and 
should arouse every one to immediate action. 
No one is fit to live, until lie is prepared to die. 
The Christian life not only prepares one for heaven, 
but it fits him for this earth. The sinner's influ- 
ence is bad, and he is a detriment and a curse to 
the world just as long as he lives in sin. I am 
anxious to get people fitted to live, and then I 
know they will be all right when it comes to death. 

There are two specific, direct and unavoidable 
interviews which must and will take place between 
every man and his God. The first of these is 
at death: "It is appointed unto men once to 
die" (Heb. 9:27). "When the body returns to 
dust, the spirit returns to God who gave it" (Eccl. 
12:7). "Absent from the body, present with the 
Lord" (2 Cor. 5:8). 

The second is at the judgment: "But after this 
the judgment" (Heb. 9:27). "We shall all stand 
34 



ARE YOU FIT TO LIVE? 

before the judgment-seat of Christ. ... So then 
every one of us shall give account of himself to 
God" (Rom. 14:10, 12). "For God shall bring 
every work into judgment, with every secret thing, 
whether it be good, or whether it be evil" (Eccl. 
12: 14). "The Lord shall judge his people" (Heb. 
10:30). 

There are three words that have a remarkable 
relation to each other. They are ability, respon- 
sibility, accountability. Each one grows directly 
out of the other. If we have ability, we are re- 
sponsible. If we are responsible, we must render 
an account. But to render an account is to come 
to judgment. But judgment means to come before 
a superior tribunal for approval or disapproval, 
reward or punishment. Ability and responsibility 
would amount to nothing if there were no account- 
ability. Hence the importance of preparing to 
meet God in judgment, and being able "to render 
an account for the deeds done in the body." 

How prepare? It will be necessary to find out 
what is wrong. A correct diagnosis must precede 
rational treatment. Man has made an awful mess 
of trying to treat himself. At best, man is a 
"quack doctor" when it comes to matters of the 
soul. It is easier to get sick than it is to get well. 
It is easier to fall than it is to get up. Man 
got into the pit with a little help from Satan, but 
he needs a great deal of help to get out! His 
efforts to treat himself for his "malady of unpre- 
35 



THIRTY YEARS ON THE FIRING-LINE 

paredness to meet his God" have been provoking, 
pathetic or amusing, but always ineffectual. 

There are four principal ways in which he has 
attempted this preparation. First by education, 
whatever that may mean, for there is great confu- 
sion here. It has been taught that a developed 
intellect will be able to project itself into the future 
state, and successfully meet all conditions found 
there. It is the practice of "Yoga,." or "the path 
that leads to wisdom"; " Brahma-gnana, or divine 
wisdom; idealized intelligence." It is simply 
paganism or Hinduism which is being introduced 
into America, and it has very much in common 
with the worship of Moloch and Baal by the an- 
cient Assyrian idolaters. There is a Buddhist 
temple in Seattle, a Hindoo temple in San Fran- 
cisco, a Krishna temple in Los Angeles and a Theo- 
sophical temple at San Diego. And many wealthy 
American women are taking up with these "abom- 
inations unto the Lord." 

The second effort at preparation has been 
morality, or ethical culture. If mere morality is 
enough to save a man from condemnation at the 
last judgment, then a man can save himself, because 
if you are moral you have made yourself so, and if 
you are immoral you have made yourself immoral. 
Your morality and immorality is a work of your 
own. If a man makes himself moral and that will 
save him, then he does not need God; he saves 
himself! But not one of you is perfectly moral; 



ARE YOU FIT TO LIVE? 

all have fallen short of perfection in morals, and 
not until you can lift yourself over the fence by 
pulling on your own boot-straps will you be able 
to save yourself without assistance! 

A third way is by penance — self-inflicted pun- 
ishment or torture. There are millions of human 
beings who serve their gods in this way. They 
lacerate their flesh, and then tear open the healing 
wounds. They take long journeys, pilgrimages, 
and deny themselves food, drink and shelter. They 
crawl and walk on their knees long distances, allow 
themselves to be bitten by poisonous insects, cut 
off their ears, put out their eyes, pull out teeth, 
pull off nails, and whip and scourge and torture 
themselves in every conceivable way, thus rendering 
their bodies sick and sore, hideous and miserable. 
Does this self-inflicted punishment prepare people 
to meet God? Is a man unprepared to meet God 
because he is well and physically sound? If so, 
we would better all get sick immediately. 

We have a little of this self-inflicted punish- 
ment in this country — people who abstain from 
certain kinds of food on certain days of the week, 
or for certain seasons. The Bible does not com- 
mand it Nowhere in the New Testament, which 
is our law-book, do you find where you are com- 
manded to abstain from meat on Friday or during 
Lent. The Bible doesn't know anything about 
Lent. It would be all right if the Lord had com- 
manded it, but it is commanded by men, and not 
37 



THIRTY YEARS ON THE FIRING-LINE 

by the Lord. Away with all these doctrines, tra- 
ditions, commandments and ordinances of men! 
Paul says all are to perish with the using. (See 
Col. 2:20-23.) 

Our physical health, whether good or bad, does 
not determine our preparedness to meet God. Some 
healthy people are very good, and some sick ones 
are very bad, and vice versa. The physical condi- 
tion of the body has nothing to do with the condi- 
tion of the soul. 

The fourth method of treatment is just to deny 
it! Persistently affirm that there is nothing the 
matter. That you are not unprepared to meet God. 
Hypnotize yourself into believing there is no un- 
preparedness, and that you are ready to meet God, 
and there is nothing to fear. All is mind, and 
mind is God — and man is God, so he only has to 
meet himself after all! If you are sick, that is 
just a mistake of your mortal mind, but as all mind 
is God, and God is all, then it must be God who 
makes the mistake of thinking He is sick! But 
who can follow the ramifications or the absurdities 
and contradictions of Christian Science? 

There was one of these moonshine doctors out 
in California who was called to treat a little boy 
who had "fits." He took the child on his knee 
and said : ' ' Now you must repeat just what I say. ' ' 

Doctor — " There are no fits." 

Boy — " There are no fits" (in a thin, piping 
voice) . 

38 



ARE YOU FIT TO LIVE? 

Doctor — ''There never were any fits." 

Boy — ' ' There never were any fits. ' ' 

Doctor — "Nobody ever had a fit." 

Boy — "Nobody ever had a fit." 

Doctor — "I never had a fit." 

Boy — "I never had a fit." 

Doctor — "I never will have a fit." 

Boy — "I never will — wow! I'm goin' to have 
one now! Wow! wow!" 

And he had one too! At least, even the doctor's 
mortal mind got twisted until he thought the boy 
had something. Now, this was a real occurrence. 
These people who call themselves Christian Scien- 
tists absolutely and positively deny every funda- 
mental doctrine of the religion of Jesus Christ. 

These four methods of treatment remind me of 
an incident told me down at Little Rock, Arkansas. 
A man living near the city got a fall and was hurt 
quite severely. They sent for the doctor, and in the 
meantime an old colored man, a sort of "root and 
herb doctor" amongst the negroes, was called in 
and asked if he could relieve the man until the 
doctor should come. He fixed up a dose and gave 
it to the man; shortly afterwards the doctor came. 
They told him that the colored man had just given 
him a dose of medicine, and the doctor asked what 
had been given. He replied that he had given him 
a dose of "alum and rosum," and explained that 
as the man had gotten a fall he thought "he had 
done wrenched himself," so he gave the alum to 
39 



THIRTY YEARS ON THE FIRING-LINE 

draw the parts together, and the "roswm," to 
" stick 'em tight.' ' This is quite as intelligent and 
effectual as are man-made religions. 

Christ says: "In vain do they worship me 
teaching as their doctrines the precepts of men" 
(Mark 7:7). Man is a spiritual quack doctor. We 
shall now dismiss him and call in the great Phy- 
sician, the Lord Jesus Christ. His diagnosis is 
given in one word : ' ' Sin ! ' ' This is induced by the 
heart, the life and the state of the individual being 
wrong. As long as the heart, the life and the state 
are wrong, sin will be the result. Hence the heart, 
life and state must be changed. There is no use 
to forgive the sinner and leave him in a sinful 
state. In other words, pardon would avail nothing 
without conversion. Conversion is the change 
which takes place in the mind and heart of a 
person in becoming a Christian. Pardon is an 
official act and takes place in the mind of God. 
In conversion, man acts; in pardon, God acts. 
Jesus tells us what will bring about the change of 
heart, life and state which is necessary in order to 
secure the pardon of our past sins. 

1. Change of Heart. "What is the heart? So 
few people know what the heart is. A woman once 
said to me: "I think all you have to do is to get 
the heart right." I said: "Madam, what is the 
heart?" She floundered around and finally said, 
"I must confess, I really can't tell what it is." 
and I replied, "You think all that is necessary is 
40 



ARE YOU FIT TO LIVE? 

to get the heart right, and you don't know what 
it is." So, people go around talking about "the 
heart, the heart," and they wouldn't know a heart 
from a gizzard without a label on it. Now, I'll 
tell you what the heart is: It consists of the intel- 
lect, emotions and will. Or, as some give it, thus: 
the understanding, the judgment, the affections, 
the conscience and the will. These put together 
constitute the whole heart, and any one or more of 
them being wrong puts the heart out of fix. When 
speaking of the heart we may mean any one, or 
more, or all of the above. It is thus used in the 
Bible. 

The sinner's heart must be changed, and this is 
done by faith. "He [God] put no difference be- 
tween us [Jews] and them [Gentiles], purifying 
their hearts by [the] faith" (Acts 15:9). Care- 
fully note the following Scriptures : 

"Without faith it is impossible to please him" 
(Heb. 11:6). 

"He that believeth not shall be damned" (Mark 
16:16). 

We might quote many other passages proving 
the necessity of faith. 

The change of heart is produced by faith, and 
Paul says: "Faith comes by hearing the word of 
God." It will consist in 

1. The enlightenment of the understanding. 

2. The conviction of the judgment. 

3. The purifying of the affections. 

41 



THIRTY YEARS ON THE FIRING-LINE 

4. The quickening of the conscience. 

5. The subjection of the will to God. 

When the above changes take place under the 
influence of the gospel, which is the power of God 
unto salvation to every one that believeth, the next 
change will immediately follow, which is repent- 
ance. 

I hope you thoroughly comprehend what I 
have said about the change of heart. There are 
so many people who don't know the difference be- 
tween a change of heart and a sensation in the 
nervous system. They have some emotional ex- 
perience without understanding, conscience or judg- 
ment, and they think that is a change of heart. 
Mere emotional excitement is not a change of 
heart. There is need of much emphasis here. The 
heart is changed only when the understanding has 
been enlightened by the word of God, and the judg- 
ment has been convicted by its truth, and the affec- 
tions have been purified (so that we love what God 
loves, and will hate what God hates), and the con- 
science is made tender by the recognition of His 
message of love, and the human will submits to that 
of God. 

2. Change of Life. This means repentance. It 
is from the Greek word metanoea. "It is that sor- 
row for sin which produces newness of life" 
(Buck). "It is the relinquishment of any practice 
from the conviction that it has offended God" 
(Webster). 

42 



ARE YOU FIT TO LIVE? 

Such a change of conduct or life is necessary 
before we can secure pardon, or gain the state of 
reconciliation to God. 

Luke says (24:47): "That repentance and 
remission of sins should be preached in his name 
among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem." 

"Repent and be baptized" (Acts 2:38). 

"I tell you, Except ye repent, ye shall all like- 
wise perish" (Luke 13:3). 

As there are only three things that can possibly 
be wrong with even the worst sinner — namely, his 
heart, his life and his state (or relation to God) — 
when we get these right, we will have him saved, 
or prepared to meet his God. Faith makes the 
heart right, repentance makes the life right. Now, 
what will change his state or relation to God? Let 
us suppose a little boy is dressed clean in the morn- 
ing and sent out to play. He goes to making mud 
pies, and in an hour his mother looks and sees 
him — he is a sight! She says: "Just look at that 
child! Come here, Johnny, and mamma will wash 
you and put on clean clothes." And this process 
is repeated every hour in the day, and when eve- 
ning comes there is a great pile of soiled linen, and 
the boy comes up at last as dirty as at any previous 
call. No sensible mother would act thus. She 
would say: "When the boy gets tired of mud pies 
[change of heart], and leaves them [repentance], 
I'll wash him [baptism] and put on clean clothes 
[changed state]." 

43 



THIRTY YEARS ON THE FIRING-LINE 

3. The change of state is brought about by bap- 
tism. This does not change the heart or life, for 
that is done by faith or repentance before you get 
to baptism. In fact, you can not get to baptism 
until you have believed with all the heart that 
Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and have so con- 
fessed Him before men, and duly repented. It is 
not a mere physical act, but an act of faith and of 
the deepest spiritual significance; the only act 
authorized, in the Bible, to be done in the name of 
the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Baptism bears 
the same relation to the Kingdom of GTod that natu- 
ralization does to citizenship, that the ceremony of 
marriage does to the marital state, and that initia- 
tion does to lodge membership. Baptism to a 
proper candidate is for, or unto, the remission of 
his sins. Christ told the apostle Peter that he 
would give to him the keys of the Kingdom, and 
whatever he should bind on earth should be bound 
in heaven. Now, Peter used those keys (or one of 
them) on the day of Pentecost, when they who 
heard him preach were pierced in the heart, and 
"said unto Peter and to the rest of the apostles, 
Men and brethren, what shall we do? Then Peter 
said unto them, Repent, and be baptized every one 
of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the remis- 
sion of sins; and ye shall receive the gift of the 
Holy Ghost" (Acts 2:37, 38). 

"Then they that gladly received his word were 
baptized" (Acts 2:41). 

44 



ARE YOU FIT TO LIVE? 

"He that believeth and is baptized shall be 
saved" (Mark 16:16). 

"And when they believed Philip preaching the 
things concerning the kingdom of God, and the 
name of Jesus Christ, they were baptized, both 
men and women" (Acts 8:12). 

Jesus said of his own baptism : ' ' Thus it becom- 
eth us to fulfil all righteousness" (Matt. 3:15). 
If the Son of God could not fulfill all righteous- 
ness without being baptized, do you think that you 
can? I would not want to try it. 

"Know ye not, that so many of us as were 
baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his 
death?" (Rom. 6:3). 

1 * For as many of you as have been baptized into 
Christ have put on Christ" (Gal. 3:27). 

"Except a man be born of the water and of the 
Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God" 
(John 3:5). 

"Baptism doth also now save us" (1 Pet. 3:21). 

Albert Barnes (Presbyterian) says: "No man 
can prove from the Bible that baptism has no im- 
portant connection with salvation." 

Chas. H. Spurgeon once said: "The Scripture 
saith, 'He that believeth and is baptized shall be 
saved;' therefore he that believeth and is baptized 
is saved — the Lord's word must be true. Why do 
you hope about it? Believe it and enjoy it. God 
has said it; I believe it. Glory be to His name; 
He shall have all the praise." 
45 



THIRTY YEARS ON THE FIRING-LINE 

After one has believed, repented and been bap- 
tized, he must give all diligence, and add to his 
faith virtue (courage), knowledge, temperance, 
patience, godliness, brotherly kindness and charity. 
"For if these things be in you, and abound, they 
make you that ye shall neither be barren nor un- 
fruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 
But he that lacketh these things is blind, and can- 
not see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was 
purged from his old sins. Wherefore, the rather, 
brethren, give diligence to make your calling and 
election sure: for if ye do these things, ye shall 
never fall: for so an entrance shall be ministered 
unto you abundantly into the everlasting kingdom 
of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ " (2 Pet. 
1:5-11). 

When Shall We Prepare to Meet God? 

The Lord says: "Now [to-day] is the day of 
salvation. " It is always represented as too im- 
portant to delay. No one has any lease on life. 
We may be called into His presence any moment, 
and we should not try to live a single day un- 
prepared. 

There is a Latin motto which says: "He who 
gives early gives double." So that person who 
prepares earliest, saves his life (in service) as well 
as his soul (eternally). Lord Lyndhurst, who was 
unconverted until he was eighty years old, because 
he had never previously examined into the claims 
4.6 



ARE YOU FIT TO LIVE? 

of the gospel, would often exclaim: "My soul is 
saved, but my life has been lost!" 

The temptations and inducements to postpone 
and delay preparation are very strong, and great 
is the loss to the church and to individuals from 
this cause. 

There is an allegory which runs like this: 
" There was once a great revival going on upon 
the earth, and all hell was disturbed because of it. 
Satan called a council to determine what should 
be done to stop it. One of his imps proposed to 
go to the earth and tell the people that there was 
no God and no devil, no hell and no heaven — 
that death ended all, and there was no hereafter. 
The devil replied: 'None but fools would believe 
that, and they are not all fools.' 

"A second imp said: 'Send me and I'll stop 
that revival; I'll tell them there is a God and a 
heaven, but no hell and no devil ; that all are going 
to heaven by and by, and preparation is unneces- 
sary. ' 

"Satan said: 'Some might try to believe such 
nonsense, but they would know better.' 

"A third one said: 'Send me and I'll stop it.' 

1 ' 'What would you do ? ' asked Satan. 

"The imp replied: 'I'd tell them the truth; 
that there is a God and a devil, a hell and a heaven, 
and that they must prepare for heaven or hell 
during life. But I'll tell them there's plenty of 
time; don't be in a hurry, consider carefully, don't 
47 



THIRTY YEARS ON THE FIRING-LINE 

be hasty, wait for a more convenient season. ' Satan 
said : * Go ! that will stop it. ' " 

Friends, I am sure there are ten thousand 
people who go to perdition through procrastina- 
tion to every one who goes there from deliberate 
choice. 

In one of my meetings a young man stood 
anxious and tearful, one night, during the invita- 
tion. When the audience was dismissed he came 
and told me that he came near coming forward, 
but that he was an awful sinner. I assured him 
that Christ was able to save unto the uttermost 
all that would come unto God by Him. I urged 
him to an immediate surrender. He was present 
the next night, and appeared much interested and 
affected. I shall never forget as he stood in the 
aisle and looked at me with tears in his eyes, and 
I gave the exhortation, "Come to-night; this may 
be your last chance of salvation, for the last oppor- 
tunity comes to every lost soul that ever has any 
opportunity, and this may be the last time that 
God will ever permit you to reject his Son." But 
procrastination had woven its spell around him, 
and he did not come. The next morning he was 
killed instantly in a railroad wreck, all unprepared 
to meet his God! 

"To-day the Saviour calls; 
Ye wanderers, come. 
O, ye benighted souls, 
Why longer roam? 
48 



ARE YOU FIT TO LIVE? 

"To-day the Saviour calls; 
For refuge fly: 
The storm of vengeance falls, 
And death is nigh. 

"The Spirit calls to-day: 
Yield to His power! 
O, grieve Him not away; 
'Tis mercy's hour." 



40 



THIRTY YEARS ON THE FIRING-LINE 



WHAT CHURCH SHALL I JOIN? 

A HARD QUESTION ANSWERED. 

Text. — "And the Lord added to the church daily such 
as were being saved. ' ' — Acts 2:47. 

WHAT church shall I join?" is a question 
which comes to almost every person, and 
calls for an answer. Some people answer it with 
ease, others with difficulty, and some give up in 
despair. I once asked Sam Jones why he did not 
tell the people certain things taught in the Bible. 
His answer was : ' ' They will not let me tell them. ' ' 
He had learned that the willing ear was necessary 
to a receptive heart. Friend, will you let me help 
you answer the question, "What church shall I 
join?"? Your soul's salvation depends upon the 
answer to this question. Before proceeding 
further, I will ask you to turn to your Bible and 
read Acts 2 : 37-47. We often hear the statement 
made that "one church is as good as another," 
but this is not true, and to affirm it is to make 
God the author of confusion. The church to which 
the Lord added those that were being saved is the 
50 



WHAT CHURCH SHALL I JOIN? 

right one, and if we can find that church we shall 
then know what church to join. After Peter had 
answered the question, "But whom say ye that 
I am?" by saying, "Thou art the Christ, the Son 
of the living God," Jesus said: "Upon this rock 
I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall 
not prevail against it" (Matt. 16:13-19). That 
church was established by the Lord through His 
apostles, and He added the saved to it day by day, 
just as fast as they were saved. 

If we can ascertain how they were saved, and 
get ourselves saved in the same way, the Lord 
himself will add us to His church. If men had 
not sought to substitute some other way of salva- 
tion, there would not have been any confusion. 
This departure from the Lord's way grew into the 
great apostasy, and culminated in the Papacy, 
or Eoman Catholic hierarchy. To overcome this 
and get back to the Lord's way, various Reforma- 
tions were inaugurated. The first was by Martin 
Luther, who undertook to reform the Catholic 
Church, but he did not attempt to restore the 
church of Christ as it was given to the world by 
the apostles. 

Then came John Wesley, who tried to reform 
the Episcopal Church, but he did not attempt to 
restore the church as it was in the beginning. 

Luther, Calvin, Knox, Wesley, and scores of 
others, all attempted to reform existing conditions 
and correct abuses by substituting something else, 
51 



THIRTY YEARS ON THE FIRING-LINE 

and overthrowing such abuses and errors as they, 
perceived to exist. 

Then came the Reformation of the nineteenth 
century, in an effort to restore the primitive church 
in its faith, ordinances and life — a reformation 
more definite, sweeping and thorough than any of 
the others which had preceded it This reformation 
does not repudiate anything which had been gained 
by former reformations. Luther and Calvin and 
Wesley all belong to us, and we bless God for what 
they did, but theirs was not a finished work. John 
Wesley himself says: " Brethren, I am distressed. 
I know not what to do. I see what I might have 
done once. I might have said peremptorily and ex- 
pressly, 'Here I am; I and my Bible. I will not, 
I dare not, vary from this book, either in great 
things or small. I have no power to dispense with 
one jot or tittle of what is contained therein. I 
am determined to be a Bible Christian, not almost, 
but altogether. Who will meet me on this ground? 
Join me on this or not at all" (''Wesley's Ser- 
mons,' > Vol. II., p. 439). 

You can see from the above that John Wesley 
saw the place and necessity for a more thorough 
work than his, and lamented that he had not seen 
it soon enough to plant himself firmly on the 
Bible, and the Bible only. 

This is exactly the work which Alexander Camp- 
bell and his co-reformers inaugurated at the be- 
ginning of the nineteenth century. Mr. Campbell 
52 



WHAT CHURCH SHALL I JOIN? 

did not start a new church; he merely exhumed, 
from the theological rubbish of centuries, the lost 
church, and restored it to the world. It was like 
finding a long-lost recipe. When found, and the 
same ingredients are used in the same manner, we 
shall have the same results. 

There was a certain process through which 
sinners were taken in apostolic times, which saved 
them, and the Lord then added them to the church 
day by day. If we put sinners through that same 
process to-day, shall we not have the same result? 
Most assuredly And having secured salvation 
(pardon) in that way, the Lord will add you to 
His church. Isn't that clear? 

The primitive church had certain characteristics, 
and the primitive church, restored, must possess 
those same characteristics, or it will not be a resto- 
ration at all. 

The Name. 

The name of the primitive church was "the 
church of God" (Acts 20:28; 1 Cor. 1:2); "the 
churches of God" (1 Thess. 2:14) ; "the churches 
of Christ" (Eom. 16:16); "the church" in such 
and such a city, as "the church in Smyrna," "the 
church in Pergamos," "the church in Sardis," 
etc.; "the church of the firstborn" (Heb. 12:23). 
It is also called "the kingdom of heaven" in many 
places. It is called "the body of Christ" (1 Cor. 
12:27); "the church which is his body" (Eph. 
1:22, 23) ; "the household of God" (Eph. 2:19). 
53 



THIRTY YEARS ON THE FIRING-LINE 

As individuals, the members of the church were 
called "disciples," "saints," "brethren," "disciples 
of Christ," "Christians," etc. The church is also 
called "the bride," and Christ "the bridegroom" 
(Matt. 25:1; John 3:29). The bride should 
always wear the bridegroom's name. No faithful 
wife would consent to wear the name of any other 
man than that of her own husband, and she would 
dishonor him if she did. And the church just as 
certainly dishonors Christ by wearing other names 
than His. 

No man's name should be placed where the 
name of Christ alone belongs. The expressions 
"church of Christ," "Christ's church" and 
"Christian church" are practical equivalents in 
the English language, just as "culture of Boston," 
"Boston's culture" and "Bostonian culture" all 
mean precisely the same thing. Is it not Christ's 
body? 

We can never have Christian union until we 
drop all unscriptural names, and adopt the common 
family name "Christian." If we wish to add the 
fractions 1/2, 1/3, 1/4, 1/6 and 1/12, we must first 
reduce them to a common denominator (or name, 
for that is what the word "denominator" means). 
The common denominator for these common frac- 
tions is 12. 1/2=6/12, 1/3=4/12, 1/4=3/12, 1/6 
=2/12, 1/12=1/12. Now we can readily add them. 
You notice the 1/12 did not need any change at 
all; it was ready to be added just as it stood. It 
54 



WHAT CHURCH SHALL I JOIN? 

is precisely thus with those who already have the 
Scriptural names, but all others must be reduced 

t0 lt Creed. 

The word "creed" is from the Latin word 
credo, and means "I believe." The primitive 
church had Christ for its creed. They believ«d 
in Him as the Son of God, and that faith was pro- 
duced by preaching the gospel. The teachings and 
writings of the apostles, and other sacred writings, 
guided them in all matters of conduct and dis- 
cipline. Paul says: "All scripture given by in- 
spiration of God is profitable for doctrine, for 
reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteous- 
ness: that the man of God may be perfect, thor- 
oughly furnished unto all good works" (2 Tim. 3: 
16, 17). Thus a human creed is shown to be a 
presumption, and wholly unnecessary. 

The Confession. 

This is called "the good confession," and was 
the confession with the mouth that "Jesus Christ 
is the Son of God." It did not consist in a series 
of articles, written out by men, to which one must 
give his consent, or profess to believe and accept. 
Geo. P. Fisher, Professor of Church History in Yale 
College, says: "The one article of faith at the 
outset was that Jesus is the Messiah. Whoever 
acknowledged him in this character was baptized." 
Other church historians, such as Neander and Mos- 
heim, say the same. 

55 



THIRTY YEARS ON THE FIRING-LINE 

Baptism. 

Those who believed, repented and confessed 
Christ were immediately baptized for the remis- 
sion of their sins. Bear in mind that baptism 
was always preceded by faith, repentance, and 
the confession. "He that believeth and is bap- 
tized shall be saved " (Mark 16:16). 

"Repent, and be baptized every one of you 
in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of 
sins" (Acts 2:38). 

"For as many of you as were baptized into 
Christ did put on Christ" (Gal. 3:27— R. V.). 

"Or are ye ignorant that all we who were 
baptized into Jesus were baptized into his death? 
We were buried therefore with him through bap- 
tism into death" (Rom. 6:3, 4— R. V.). 

"Wherein few, that is eight souls, were saved 
through water, which also after a true likeness 
doth also now save you, even baptism" (1 Pet. 
3:21— R. V.). 

"Except a man be born of water and of the 
Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of 
God" (John 3:5). 

Albert Barnes (Presbyterian) says: "By 
water here is evidently signified baptism." (Note 
on John 3: 5.) 

Timothy Dwight, president of Yalle, "the 
greatest rabbi of the Presbyterian Church," says: 
"To be born again is precisely the same thing 
56 



WHAT CHURCH SHALL I JOIN? 

as to be born of the water and of the Spirit; and 
to be born of water is to be baptized; and he 
who understands the nature and authority of 
this institution, and refuses to be baptized, will 
never enter into the visible nor invisible kingdom 
of God" ("Works," Vol. IV., 300-302). 

Dr. James McKnight (Presbyterian) says: 
"At the beginning, He [Christ] submitted to be 
baptized — that is, to be buried under the water — 
by John, and to be raised out of it again, as an 
emblem of His future death and resurrection. . . . 
In like manner, the baptism of believers is emblem- 
atical of their own death, burial and resurrection" 
("Apostolic Epistles," Vol. I., p. 263). 

That this baptism was a dipping or immersion 
of the person in water is admitted and affirmed 
by all the real scholars of the world, and it was 
so practiced for the first thirteen hundred years 
of the Christian era. It is very certain that this 
was the practice of the primitive church, and in 
restoring the primitive ordinances of the church 
we must return to immersion. 

The Lord's Suppper. 

"And upon the first day of the week, when 
the disciples came together to break bread, Paul 
preached to them" (Acts 20:7). 

Dr. Mason (Presbyterian) says: "The Lord's 
Supper was observed by the first Christians every 
Lord's Day, nor will this be denied by any man 
57 



THIRTY YEARS ON THE FIRING-LINE 

who has candidly investigated the subject. . . . 
There is a cloud of witnesses to testify that they 
were kept up by succeeding Christians, with great 
care and tenderness, for above two centuries." 

Dr. Doddridge ( Congregationalist) says: "It 
is well known that primitive Christians adminis- 
tered the Eucharist every Lord's Day." 

Alexander Carson (Baptist) says: "There is 
an admirable wisdom in the appointment of Jesus 
in the observance of the Lord's Supper every first 
day of the week. . . . Would it be any loss to 
them if all the churches of Christ were to return 
to this primitive practice?" 

Weekly communion was the primitive, apostolic 
practice, and, as there is none to dispute it, we 
will have to return to it in order to restore the 
practice of the church established by Christ and 
His apostles, the church to which the Lord adds 
daily such as are being saved. 

Government. 

The primitive church government was congre- 
gational. Each local church attended to its own 
affairs, and had a plurality (or board) of elders 
and deacons to administer its affairs. (Elder is 
the same as bishop or presbyter in the New Tes- 
tament. ) 

When you find a church which exhibits the 
above characteristics, you will have found the 
restored church of Christ. 
58 



WHAT CHURCH SHALL I JOIN? 

The church of which I am a member does pos- 
sess these marks or characteristics, and is in faith 
and fruit a reproduction or restoration of the 
"church of Christ" as established on the day of 
Pentecost in the city of Jerusalem. This church 
is Christian, apostolic, catliolic and lioly. Where 
the church of Christ differs from other religious 
bodies, whether Jew, Christian or pagan, I believe 
that it (the church of Christ) is right, and the 
others are in error. Having found that which is 
unquestionably safe and right, I have accepted it. 
May God help you to do likewise, 



59 



THIRTY YEARS ON THE FIRING-LINE 



VI 

CHRISTIAN UNION AND THE DISCIPLES 
OF CHRIST 

THE fittest preparation, preceding a discussion 
of this subject, is a careful, prayerful reading 
of the intercessory prayer of Jesus, found in the 
seventeenth chapter of John. 

The two prominent aims of the current Refor- 
mation have been, first, the conversion of sinners,, 
and, second, the restoration of the lost unity of the 
church, or Christian union ; and the second is neces- 
sary in order to the accomplishment of the first. 
''That they may all be one; that the world may 
believe that thou hast sent me" (John 17:21). 

Our message has been both to the world and to 
the churches. We say to the sinner, "You are 
wrong;" and to the members of sectarian churches, 
"You are not wholly right, and your deficiencies 
are responsible for the unfortunate divisions 
amongst the professed followers of Christ." 

If union is right, division is wrong. The church 
was one in the beginning, and each congregation 
of Christians was like every other congregation in 
60 



CHRISTIAN UNION 



all the essentials of faith and practice. But differ- 
ences arose, which grew to such proportions as to 
produce divisions and alienations, based upon 
disagreements. And this disintegration continued 
until there were eight scores of warring sects, con- 
tending more against each other than for "the 
faith once for all delivered unto the saints." Sol- 
diers of Christ were engaged more in civil strife 
than in the conquest of the world. Each man was 
suspicious of the soundness of his brother, and 
cocksure of the unsoundness of all outside the nar- 
row limits of his own peculiar sect. And, strange 
as it may seem, out of this division grew an ad- 
miration of it, and doughty warriors justified it all. 

With supreme desire to carry out the great 
commission of "discipling all the nations," and 
hindered and saddened by the bitterness engen- 
dered through division, just a hundred years ago 
(Sept. 7, 1809) Thomas Campbell wrote and pro- 
mulgated the now famous "Declaration and 
Address," thus inaugurating the current Reforma- 
tion, which in a century has grown to the enor- 
mous proportions of eleven thousand congrega- 
tions and over twelve hundred thousand members. 

That union may supplant division, and Chris- 
tian sects return to oneness in Christ, we have the 
paradox of a new sect which is unsectarian, non- 
sectarian and anti-sectarian! 

In our efforts for union we have had to attack 
the causes of division, and, although we are the 
61 



THIRTY YEARS ON THE FIRING-LINE 

avowed champions of peace, we have appeared, to 
many, to be the most warlike of all Christians. 
But " things are not what they seem." In con- 
tending for the ■ ' one Lord, ' ' we have had to depose 
the Roman pontiff, and all lesser popes. In fighting 
for the "one faith," we have inveighed mightily 
against human creeds. And in our advocacy of 
Scriptural rites and forms, we have been forced to 
affirm believers' immersion, weekly communion, and 
the congregational form of church government. In 
our fighting we may not always have been as con- 
siderate of the enemy as was the Quaker who, dis- 
covering a robber in his house, said gently: 
"Friend, thee would better move. I am going to 
shoot right where thee stands." This thoughtless- 
ness upon our part has often caused us to wound 
our friends, the enemy! 

One of the greatest obstacles to union has been 
the complacent satisfaction of each sect with itself, 
glorying in its past achievements, and unwilling 
to share them with any who would not at the same 
time share their denominational insignia and en- 
vironment, as if Luther were the exclusive inheri- 
tance of Lutherans, Calvin and Knox of Presby- 
terians, Wesley of Methodists, and the Campbells 
of the Disciples of Christ. Are not these mighty 
men of God the common property of Christendom? 
Alas that one should be of Paul and another of 
Cephas, and not all for Christ alone! Let us claim 
them all. 



CHRISTIAN UNION 



Whatever justifiable causes for division may- 
have existed in the first place, these causes have 
for the most part, or altogether, disappeared 
amongst Protestants. 

I do not question the fact that most noble souls, 
protesting against the evils of traditional systems, 
and longing for purer, nobler expressions of the 
faith than the tyranny and bigotry of those forms 
permitted, actually saved Christendom by destroy- 
ing a unity which was maintained by authority 
wholly assumed. Division and freedom were better 
than unity and slavery. But union is not incom- 
patible with liberty — the liberty which could once 
divide, can now unite, with sufficient incentive. 
Are not the incentives sufficient? 

This Reformation pleads for Christian union 
because 

First: The Bible teaches it. ''There shall be 
one fold and one shepherd" (John 10:16). 

Second: Jesus prayed for it in the seventeenth 
chapter of John. 

Third: Paul condemned division in the church 
of Corinth: "Now I beseech you, brethren, by the 
name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that ye all speak 
the same things, and that there be no divisions 
among you; but that ye be perfectly joined to- 
gether in the same mind and in the same judgment. 
Now this I say, that every one of you saith, I am 
of Paul ; and I of Apollos ; and I of Cephas ; and I 
of Christ. Is Christ divided? Was Paul crucified 
63 



THIRTY YEARS ON THE FIRING-LINE 

for you? or were ye baptized in the name of 
Paul?" (1 Cor. 1:10, 12, 13). 

"For ye are yet carnal: for whereas there is 
among you envying and strife and divisions, are 
ye not carnal and walk as men? For while one 
saith, I am of Paul ; and another, I am of Apollos ; 
are ye not carnal? Who then is Paul, and who is 
Apollos, but ministers by whom ye believed, even 
as the Lord gave to every man? I have planted, 
Apollos watered; but God gave the increase. So 
then neither is he that planteth anything, neither 
he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase. 
. . . For we are laborers together with God; ye are 
God's husbandry, ye are God's building" (1 Cor. 
3:3-7, 9). 

Fourth: In order to convert the world, we must 
unite the church. "This Reformation proposes 
simply a return in letter and in spirit, in principle 
and in practice, to the original basis of doctrine 
and fellowship." Our motto has been: "Where 
the Scriptures speak, we speak; where the Scrip- 
tures are silent, we are silent." 

"We have no desire for a mere organic union 
any further or faster than a supreme love for 
Christ leads to unity of spirit" (Errett). 

There is a difference between a union and a 
mixture. Oil and water may be mixed; they do 
not unite. The so-called "union meetings" are 
merely mixtures, and, like oil and water, soon 
return to their former consistency. If such unions 
64 



CHRISTIAN UNION 



are good for a time, why not for all time? If they 
are unions at all, why do they not remain united? 

The preaching of a pure gospel will produce 
Christians. If wheat only is put into the soil, the 
harvest will be wheat only. The word of God 
is the seed of the kingdom, and if that only is 
sown in the heart, we shall have Christians only. 

We must have a basis of union. That basis 
must omit no essential thing, and it must contain 
no non-essential thing. If an essential is omitted, 
it will not be Christian, and if a non-essential is 
included, it will prevent union. 

The united church must be non-sectarian. Christ 
alone must be the Head. The head rules the body. 
If all sects were to unite with, or be swallowed 
up by, one great sect, that would be sectarian 
union instead of Christian union; unless it be con- 
ceded that that particular sect was the true bride 
of Christ, without spot or wrinkle or any such 
thing. The Disciples of Christ are often accused 
of trying to bring about Christian union after the 
similitude of "the lion and the lamb," but this 
is a sore misapprehension. We only ask people to 
come to us as far as we now occupy the only tena- 
ble ground of union, and, in the language of Alex- 
ander Campbell, "we take the Bible, the whole 
Bible, and nothing but the Bible, as the foundation 
of all Christian union and communion. Those who 
do not like this will please show us a more excellent 
way." 

5 65 



THIRTY YEARS ON THE FIRING-LINE 

I recently made the statement, before the South- 
ern California Christian Ministers' Association in 
Los Angeles, that I was willing to sell all our 
church property and devote the proceeds to mis- 
sionary and charitable enterprises, and join the 
Methodists, Baptists, Presbyterians, Congregation- 
alists, etc., if they will simply call their churches 
"churches of Christ/ ' or "Christian churches*'; 
practice the immersion of penitent believers only, 
and allow each congregation to attend to its own 
local affairs, and spread the Lord's table every 
Sunday for all who want to partake of it that 
often. Thus we would disappear, to reappear a 
much-enlarged body, and with infinite might for 
the evangelization of the world. 

The united church must have a non-sectarian 
creed. Christendom can never be united upon any 
of the creeds which have been formulated by men, 
and used as the rallying standards of the very 
divisions which union is to destroy. As long as 
we support human creeds there will be parties in 
the church. Nothing is Christian union but a 
union of Christians, in faith and fellowship, on 
the word of God — the Bible — "the creed that needs 
no revision;" it is the unsectarian, non-sectarian 
basis for the union of all Christians. 

Listen to these words from John "Wesley on 
the subject of Christian union. He says: "Breth- 
ren, I am distressed. I know not what to do. I 
see what I might have done once. I might have 
6Q 



CHRISTIAN UNION 



said peremptorily and expressly, 'Here I am: I 
and my Bible. I will not, I dare not, vary from 
this book, either in great things or small. I have 
no power to dispense with one jot or tittle of what 
is contained therein. I am determined to be a 
Bible Christian, not almost, but altogether. Who 
will meet me on this ground? Join me on this or 
not at all' " ("Wesley's Sermons," Vol. II., p. 439). 
If John Wesley had only had this vision, and 
felt this way a few years sooner, he, and not the 
Campbells, would have been the founder of the 
movement for the restoration of primitive, apos- 
tolic, Bible Christianity, and I would that it had 
been so. 

The Union Church Must Have a Bible Name. 

The seventeen kinds of Methodists might unite 
on the name "Methodist." 

The thirteen kinds of Baptists might unite on 
the name "Baptist." 

The twenty-two kinds of Lutherans might unite 
on the name "Lutheran." 

The twelve kinds of Presbyterians might unite 
on the name "Presbyterian." 

But where and what is the name for all of 
these, and scores of others, when all are united 
in one great church or body? 

Albert Barnes asks: "Should not, and will not, 
all these divisions yet be merged into the high and 
holy name ' Christian '? " 
67 



THIRTY YEARS ON THE FIRING-LINE 

Henry Ward Beecher says: "Let me speak the 
language of heaven, and call you simply Chris- 
tians. ' ' 

A. J. Gordon says: "It was not by accident and 
as a term of derision that the first believers re- 
ceived their name; but the disciples were divinely 
called Christians first at Antioch (Acts 11:26). 
This was the name preordained for them, that 
'honorable name by which ye are called.' " His 
name is above every other. 

We must join each other on common grounds, 
in love of Christ, and that will be Christian union. 
We shall then be Christians, neither more nor less, 
Christians individually and collectively. Christians 
plus nothing, minus nothing, divided by nothing. 
Clothed with all that is Christian, and stripped of 
all that is unchristian. 

In the language of Isaac Errett : ' ' We call upon 
all the people of God in the various sects to come 
out from them, and unite in the faith and practice 
taught in the New Testament. Upon this book we 
must all unite. 

Hold on to all that is good and Scriptural for 
which you now stand, yielding only the unscrip- 
tural and non-essential things, which things now 
divide us, and heartily accept any and all the 
Scriptural things which you may not have already 
accepted, and we may then serve God in the one 
body, one Spirit, one hope, one Lord, one faith, 
one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is 
68 



CHRISTIAN UNION 



above all, and through all, and in all" (Eph. 4: 
4-6). These are the seven (perfect) articles of 
faith. 

"One Faith, one Hope, One Joy, one Strife, 
One Head, one Truth, one Way, one Life; 
One kingdom's universal reign, 

One vast eternity sublime; 
One hell to shun, one heaven to gain, 
And only one probation time." 



69 



. 



THIRTY YEARS ON THE FIRING-LINE 



VII 

THE DIVINITY OF CHRIST 

(As Preached in Duquesne Garden, Pittsburgh, at the Cen- 
tennial Convention, Sunday Night, Oct. 17, 1909.) 

Text. — "What think ye of Christ? whose son is he?" 
—Matt. 22: 42. (Read the first chapter of Luke.) 

BRETHREN! This is the greatest question that 
Heaven has ever propounded to the children 
of men, and the answer to it is the most important 
that will ever come from the human heart. Answer 
it you must, and answer it you will! That I may 
help you to answer it correctly is the object of this 
discourse. Peter said: "Thou art the Christ, the 
Son of the living God." Can you answer it from 
your heart in the same way? "With the heart 
man believeth unto righteousness; with the mouth 
confession is made unto salvation." 

I first call your attention to the ground of His 
presumable cbivinity. Christ was not a natural 
product of His day and generation. If He were 
only a natural man, a natural generation, why were 
there no others like Him, at that time, before, or 
since then? Why not you, or I, His equal or 

70 



THE DIVINITY OF CHRIST 

superior? We have had congenital, educational and 
social advantages which He never had, and yet He 
stands "the supreme man of the ages." 

Men like Galileo, Kepler, Milton, Bacon, Newton 
and Renan set the name of Jesus above every other. 
George John Eomanes says: "If we estimate the 
greatness of a man by the influence which he has 
exerted on mankind, there can be no question, even 
from the secular point of view, that Christ is much 
the greatest man who has ever lived" ("Thoughts 
on Religion," p. 169). 

Jean Paul Richter says: "The life of Christ 
concerns Him who, being the holiest among the 
mighty, and the mightiest among the holy, lifted 
with his pierced hands empires off their hinges, 
turned the stream of centuries out of its channel, 
and still governs the ages." 

Is such greatness natural to man? 

Our own A. C. Smither, upon his return from 
Egypt and Palestine, said at the Long Beach Con- 
vention, in 1907: "First of all, I was impressed 
with the absolute impossibility of accounting for 
the person, character and service of Jesus Christ 
by any other than divine power. It is a moral 
impossibility that Palestine should have produced 
this Saviour of men by any mere natural or human 
agency." 

If, therefore, He was not a natural product, or 
generation, He must have been a supernatural or 
divine personage — as presumed. 
71 



THIRTY YEARS ON THE FIRING-LINE 

Our second step is a consideration of the bio- 
logical question involved. For fifteen years I was 
a teacher in public schools, normal schools, colleges 
and universities of this country. In 1899 I entered 
Barnes University Medical College in St. Louis. 
My diploma bears date of 1905. I have kept fairly 
informed of all the developments and discoveries 
in biological science within the last forty years. 
Hence I am not on unfamiliar ground. 

But you can best understand the difficulty here 
presented, by a concrete example or illustration, 
pointing to the conversion and baptism of an infidel 
doctor, in one of my meetings some years ago. 
This man had been superintendent of the schools 
in the city, had studied medicine, and after gradu- 
ation had established a practice in this capital city. 
His father, who was a minister, had been a Gov- 
ernor of the State. This doctor had been a church- 
member, but had lost his faith while acquiring his 
medical education in the East. But few people 
knew of his skepticism, amongst whom was the 
man at whose house I was entertained, a professor 
in the University of that State. Through this 
man's invitation the doctor came one night to hear 
me preach. The next morning he called to see 
me ; said he wanted help, if I could give it to him ; 
wanted the interview kept strictly "sub rosa," for 
the present at least. Then said he: "I am an 
infidel! It is not known to more than three or 
four persons. My own family do not know it. I 
72 



THE DIVINITY OF CHRIST 

am not proud of my unbelief." I asked: ''What 
is your trouble, and wherein are you skeptical ?" 
He answered: "I do not believe in the immaculate 
conception." I replied: " Neither do I. I never 
did believe it. I do not preach it. I never ask 
anybody to believe it." He replied: "What do 
you mean?" I said: "Exactly what I have said. 
I do not believe in that doctrine, which is simply 
a dogma of the Roman Catholic Church, proposed 
first in 1439, but adopted and made infallible in 
1854. That doctrine teaches that God preserved 
Mary from ' original sin, ' and has reference directly 
to Mary and not to Jesus. But I suspect you have 
used the wrong word, and mean that you do not 
believe in the Bible teaching of the miraculous 
conception, which is, that Jesus was begotten of 
God and not by a human father." "I see," said 
the doctor, "that I have used the wrong word; 
I thought they had the same meaning; that is my 
trouble, I can not believe in the virgin birth." 
"Then," said I, "you are indeed an unbeliever, 
and in a state of condemnation. Matthew and 
Luke both record the virgin birth, and John con- 
firms it ninety times." 

I shall give in substance the remainder of the 
interview, using as few technical, scientific terms 
as possible, that all may understand the argument. 
"You say you can not believe that God was the 
Father of Jesus and Mary His mother. Let me 
show you that you already believe twice as much 
73 



THIRTY YEARS ON THE FIRING-LINE 

concerning Adam as you are asked to believe con- 
cerning Jesus Christ. Science teaches that this 
world was one© in such a highly heated condition 
that there was no life upon it, just dead matter. 
Science also teaches that life can not come from 
dead matter, but that life only comes from ante- 
cedent life. That is the doctrine of Biogenesis. 
Life is here now. Where did it come from? If 
it could not come from the dead matter of the 
earth, it must have come to it, from without. Now, 
we call that source without, from which it came, 
God. You can call it whatever you like, but we 
say, 'In the beginning God/ The first man on 
this earth (or the first living thing upon this earth, 
from which man descended) did not have an 
earthly progenitor, or father, else he, or it, would 
not have been the first. That first man was not 
generated, but created, by the power without, which 
we call God. Now, this first man we call Adam 
(red earth) ; you may call him whatever you like, 
but that name suits me. God was potentially both 
father and mother to Adam. It takes the poten- 
tiality of father and mother, male and female, to 
produce such a being. God was also both father 
and mother, potentially, to the first woman, Eve; 
she, also, was created. God then planted those 
potentialities within the creatures themselves by 
which the race might be perpetuated by procrea- 
tion instead of by repeated creations." That's 
both reasonable and scientific. 
74 



THE DIVINITY OF CHRIST 

I then said: "You believe that God was thus 
potentially both father and mother to Adam and 
Eve, but you can not believe that He was the 
Father only of Christ, who is the second Adam, 
and that the female potentiality was used just 
where God had planted it, and that He was brought 
forth of a virgin. It must be a case of will not 
believe, for you already believe twice as mack of 
the supernatural regarding Adam as you are asked 
to believe concerning Jesus Christ.' ' The doctor 
then said: "I have enough to think about now for 
awhile; I will see you again.' ' 

Other interviews followed, when one day he said 
to me: "What hinders me to be baptized?" My 
answer was : ' ' If thou believest, thou may est. ' ' He 
replied: "I believe that Jesus is the Son of God." 
Then, in the presence of his most intimate friends, 
I led him into the water, where he made that same 
confession, and then I baptized him. 

(Certain immaterial changes have been made in 
this narrative to save any embarrassment that 
might grow out of such a detailed account of an 
actual occurrence.) 

Darwin says: "Science demands a miracle to 
give us the unit or units lying at the beginning 
of the series of evolution." 

The great Virchow said: "All really scientific 
experience tells us that life can be produced from 
a living antecedent only" ("The Unseen Uni- 
verse," p. 229, sixth edition). 
75 



THIRTY YEARS ON THE FIRING-LINE 

Even Huxley says: " There is not a shadow of 
trustworthy, direct evidence that abiogenesis (spon- 
taneous generation) does take place, or ever has 
taken place, within the period during which the 
existence of life on the globe is recorded " (" Ency- 
clopedia Britannica, Vol. III., p. 689, article 
"Biology"). 

Prof. Alfred Russel Wallace (in 1910) said: 
"There was at some stage in the history of the 
earth, after the cooling process, a definite act of 
creation. Something came from the outside. In a 
word, life was given to the earth. Materialism is 
dead for all intelligent minds." 

There is a corollary growing out of the above 
which furnishes scientific proof of immortality. It 
is this, that if the life that is now Tiere came from 
without, it can go beyond again, and continue to 
exist. 

There are some who claim that they can not 
believe in the inspiration of the Bible, and hence 
they question the reliability of the records therein 
given. I can not here discuss the canonicity and 
authenticity of the Holy Scriptures, but a quota- 
tion or two bearing on this subject may not be 
amiss. Rousseau says: "Can it be that writings 
so sublime and simple are the work of man? Can 
He whose life they tell be Himself no more than 
a mere man? My friend, men do not invent like 
this, and the facts respecting Socrates, which no 
one doubts, are not so well attested as those about 
76 



THE DIVINITY OF CHRIST 

Jesus Christ. These Jews could never have struck 
this tone, or thought of this morality. And the 
gospel has characteristics of truthfulness, so grand, 
so striking, so perfectly inimitable, that their in- 
ventors would be even more wonderful than He 
whom they portray." 

John Stuart Mill says: "That were a greater 
miracle than Christ himself." 

Theodore Parker says: "Suppose we say that 
Plato, Newton and Shakespeare never lived. Then, 
who did their wonders and thought their thoughts? 
It would take a Shakespeare to forge a Shake- 
speare; it would take a Newton to fabricate a 
Newton; and it would take a Jesus to invent a 
Jesus. To say that the disciples invented Jesus 
is like the man who declared that Homer did not 
write the ' Iliad. ' He said: 'It was written by 
another man by that name, who lived about the 
same time' 9f \ 

Whence but from heaven 

Could men, unskilled in arts, 

In several ages born, 

In several parts, 

"Weave such agreeing truths? 

Or how, or why, 

Should all conspire 

To cheat us with a lie? 

Unasked their pains, 

Ungrateful their advice, 

Starving their gains, 

And martyrdom their price. 

— Dryden. 
77 



THIRTY YEARS ON THE FIRING-LINE 

If the Scriptures are not what they purport to 
be, then they are forgeries and impositions, given 
to us through a period of nearly two thousand 
years, and coming from some forty different men 
and women, reaching from Moses to St. John the 
Revelator, the disciple most loved. Were these 
authors capable of such forgeries? 

In further attestation of Christ's divinity we 
come now to consider His resurrection from the 
dead. Paul says (Rom. 1:4): "And declared to 
be the Son of God, with power, according to the 
Spirit of holiness, by tJie resurrection from the 
dead." It all amounts to nothing, yea, worse than 
nothing, if He did not rise from the dead. "And 
if Christ be not risen, then is our preaching vain 
and your faith is also vain: ye are yet in your 
sins. ... If in this life only we have hope in 
Christ, we are of all men most miserable" (1 Cor. 
15:14-28). 

The priests and Pharisees went to Pilate the 
next morning after Jesus was put in the tomb 
and said: "Sir, we remember that that deceiver 
said, while he was yet alive, After three days I 
will rise again. Command therefore that the sepul- 
chre be made sure until the third day, lest his 
disciples come by night, and steal him away, and 
say unto the people, He is risen from the dead: 
so the last error shall be worse than the first." 
Pilate said unto them: "Ye have a watch; go your 
way, make it as sure as you can. So they went, 
78 



THE DIVINITY OF CHRIST 

and made the sepulchre sure, sealing the stone 
and setting a watch" (Matt. 27:63-66). 

The Roman watch consisted of from forty to 
sixty armed soldiers. But the body disappeared. 
"What became of it? If it was stolen away, as a 
dead body, it was done by either friend or foe. 
But His friends could not get it, and His enemies 
would not take it. The Roman law attached five 
death penalties to the stealing of that body, or 
meddling with that tomb. It was death to break 
that seal; it was deatli to allow it to be broken; 
it was death to steal the body; it was death to 
allow any one to steal it; it was death to be asleep 
when on guard. And yet the body disappeared, 
and no one was ever punished for any violation 
of the law. How do you account for that? 

Testimony of Enemies. — The soldiers said 
Christ's disciples came and stole Him away while 
they slept. Let us examine that testimony. If 
they were asleep, how did they know what took 
place? Most of us find it difficult to tell what 
takes place when we are awake, but these fellows 
can tell just what was done, and who did it, when 
they were asleep ! Besides, to admit they were 
asleep would have meant death to them. Do you 
believe that forty or more men would all be asleep 
at one time, when the penalty was death? No, they 
were not asleep. They lied, and the law did not 
crucify men for lying, but paid them big money 
for it! 

79 



THIRTY YEARS ON THE FIRING-LINE 

Testimony of Friends. — Peter says: ''Him God 
raised up the third day, and showed him openly, 
not to all the people, but unto witnesses chosen 
before of God, even to us, who did eat and drink 
with him after lie rose from the dead" (Acts 10: 
40, 41). A competent witness of His resurrection 
would be one who knew Him when alive, saw Him 
when dead and saw Him alive again. Peter was 
such a person. 

The following also bear competent testimony: 
Mary Magdalene; the two disciples who walked 
with Him to Emmaus ; the women from Galilee ; the 
ten apostles in the upper room; the eleven, with 
Thomas present, in the same room a week later; 
the seven apostles at Tiberias; then five hundred 
brethren at one time. James the Less saw Him 
(1 Cor. 15). The eleven saw Him on ascension 
day. Stephen saw Him at his martyrdom. Paul 
saw Him on his way to Damascus. And John saw 
Him again, on the isle of Patmos, in the year 96, 
when he received the last book of the New Testa- 
ment. He was seen at least eleven times by over 
six hundred people. 

Lyman Abbott says: " Christ 's resurrection is 
the best attested fact in history.' ' 

It may be hard to believe in the resurrection 
of Christ, but I can not disbelieve it and account 
for the attendant facts in any satisfactory way. 
"If weak thy faith, why choose the harder side?" 
J believe it. It is a matter of faith, not of knowl- 
80 



THE DIVINITY OF CHRIST 

edge. " Blessed are they that have not seen, and 
yet have believed" (John 20:29). I claim that 
blessing. 

Paul says: "If thou shalt confess with thy 
mouth the Lord Jesus, and believe in thine heart 
that God hath raised him from the dead, thou 
shalt be saved" (Rom. 10:9). I stand there. 

My last argument is that the fruits of Chris- 
tianity attest His divinity. "If any man will do 
his will, he shall know of the doctrine whether it 
be of God" (John 7:17). "By their fruits ye 
shall know them" (Matt. 7:16). 

Romanes says: "It is on all sides worth con- 
sidering that the revolution effected by Christianity 
in human life is immeasurable and unparalleled in 
any other movement in history." 

Alexander Campbell says: "If Christ is not 
divine, then a lie has done more to civilize the 
world than all the truth that ever existed." 

Chas. Darwin ("Journal of Research," pp. 486 
and 468) says: "Upon leaving New Zealand, I 
look back upon but one bright spot, and that is 
Waimate, with its Christian inhabitants." Of 
those. who criticized the missionaries of the South 
Sea Islands, he wrote: "Should he chance to be 
at the point of shipwreck on some unknown coast, 
he will most devoutly pray that the lesson of the 
missionary may have extended thus far." 

In 1849 and 1850 was the great rush to the 
gold fields of California. The same year the first 
6 81 



THIRTY YEARS ON THE FIRING-LINE 

missionaries were sent to the Fiji Islands, where 
a human being could be bought for the market 
price of seven dollars, killed and eaten without 
protest. In 1900, just fifty years later, you could 
not have bought a human being for all the gold 
that had been mined in California from 1850 to 
1900. There are over twelve hundred Christian 
chapels there now, and nine-tenths of the popula- 
tion go to church every Sunday, and human life 
is as secure as it is in any city in America. Yes, 
Christianity revolutionizes human character. You 
are not afraid to trust your life, property or honor 
in the hands of a true follower of Jesus Christ. 

H. L. Hastings tells of a Christian banker and 
his infidel nephew, traveling on horseback over 
Kansas or Nebraska, and coming one night to a 
lonely trapper's dugout for shelter and rest; only 
he and his old wife lived there. The surroundings 
looked suspicious, and the travelers decided that 
one should watch while the other slept. The uncle 
retired first; the nephew sat up to watch. After 
an hour or so, the older man was awakened by 
the younger one trying to slip into bed. The old 
man awoke, and asked if it were time for him 
to get up and watch. "No, just lie still; it is not 
late, but I am coming to bed too." "Well, then, 
I'll get up." "No, Uncle, just lie still; we are 
perfectly safe; you need not be afraid." "How 
do you know we are safe?" "Well, that old man 
got his Bible and read a chapter, and they got 
82 



THE DIVINITY OF CHRIST 

down and prayed, before they went to bed. I 
heard that prayer, and I 'm not afraid. He prayed 
for us, for you and for me, and for our families, 
and that's more than I've done myself. I'm not 
afraid to stay here now." ''Neither am I," said 
the uncle, and they both went to sleep, feeling 
secure. If that old trapper had read a portion 
of Tom Paine 's "Age of Reason," and he and 
his wife had played cards for a couple of hours 
before retiring (like some of you do), they would 
have been watched all night! 

A ship was wrecked somewhere in the South 
Seas. Those who reached the shore hid themselves 
and looked longingly for a friendly sail. The 
hours dragged wearily on. Hunger, thirst and 
wounds necessitated more than "watchful wait- 
ing." One of the men, a brave young sailor, 
volunteered to scale the cliffs, and see what lay 
beyond ; for any moment a band of cannibals might 
discover the wreck, trace them to their hiding- 
place, capture, kill and devour them. The young 
man climbed slowly, painfully, laboriously to the 
top, and, raising himself cautiously, looked beyond, 
then turned and beckoned, and called: "Come on, 
come on; we are saved; we are saved!" What did 
he see? A church spire! The missionary of the 
cross had been there. They made their way to 
the village f were kindly received and tenderly 
cared for, and sent back to San Francisco. The 
captain, a wicked old sailor, hardened and godless, 
83 



THIRTY YEARS ON THE FIRING-LINE 

had little to say until he got home, then he went to 
church, and lost no time in surrendering his heart 
and life to Jesus Christ. He said: "I know He 
is the Saviour; He saved me — saved my life, my 
body, and I know He can save my soul; and He 
shall have the life that He has already saved!" 
Jesus has already saved us a thousand times, and 
in a thousand ways, and He alone can save us 
in eternity. He is the Son of God, the Saviour 
of the world. 



84 



WHAT IS RELIGION? 



VIII 
WHAT IS RELIGION? 

" 'Tis religion that can give 
Sweetest pleasures while we live. 
'Tis religion must supply 
Solid comfort when we die." 

(From an old hymn.) 

"But in vain do they worship me, teaching as their doc- 
trines the precepts of men. Ye leave the commandment of 
God, and hold fast the tradition of men; And he said unto 
them, Full well do ye reject the commandment of God, that 
ye may keep your tradition.' ' — Mark 7: 7-9. 

PLIS text is a fearful arraignment of those 
who follow men instead of Christ. 
Paul is equally severe in Col. 2 : 18-23, where 
he warns us against the ordinances, commandments 
and doctrines of men, and tells us not to touch, 
taste nor handle them, for. if we do, we shall 
perish with their using. 

A precept is a prescribed rule of action or con- 
duct. Many are the rules that men have laid down 
and prescribed and substituted for those of the 
Lord. In this I do not allude to those expediencies 
in the work or worship of God which He has left 
85 



THIRTY YEARS ON THE FIRING-LINE 

entirely to our judgment, convenience and wisdom 
to devise — such as church houses, pews, pulpits, 
printed Bibles, blackboards, charts, hymn-books, 
musical instruments, baptisteries, stoves, furnaces, 
committees, societies for doing charity and mis- 
sionary work, church papers, Bible schools and 
Bible colleges. All these are merely expediencies 
for doing the very things which God has com- 
manded us to do, and must not be confounded 
with those precepts, commandments and doctrines 
of men, the teaching and practice of which con- 
stitute a vain worship of God. 

The word "religion" occurs but five times in 
the Bible, and the word " religious' ' but twice; 
viz., Acts 13:43; 26:5; Gal. 1:13, 14; Jas. 1: 
26, 27. 

Such terms as "getting religion" and "losing 
religion" are unscriptural and misleading, and 
should not be used. Any kind of worship or faith 
is called "religion," as the Jew's religion, Moham- 
medan religion, pagan religion, etc. Religion, 
therefore, is a form of faith or worship, and Chris- 
tianity is the faith or worship of the God of the 
Bible through Jesus Christ, who is believed by us 
to be the Son of God and the only Saviour of 
the world. 

This religion is both objective and subjective. 

Objectively, it is the system of truth and worship 

revealed by Christ and His apostles, and recorded 

in the New Testament, by and through which man 

86 



WHAT IS RELIGION? 



is saved and brought back to God, from whom he 
has become alienated by sin and disobedience. "It 
is what God does for us." Religion seems to be 
derived from the prefix re, which means again, and 
ligio, to bind. It therefore means to bind anew; 
to bind again; to bind fast. Subjectively, it is 
piety, holiness, godliness — our religious experience. 
"It is what we do for ourselves." 

We are concerned in this discourse with the 
subjective phase of religion. Religion, subjectively, 
consists of three things; viz., (1) Our thoughts 
toward God; (2) our actions toward God; (3) our 
feelings toward God. It can not be more than 
this, and it must not be less. 

Thoughts are the result of our knowledge. 
Feelings are the result of our thoughts. Actions 
are the result of our feelings. Thought: "What 
think ye of Christ? whose Son is he?" Feeling: 
Do you love Him or not? Action: Are you obedi- 
ent or disobedient? 

Many people have been led to think that a 
certain peculiar, happy, joyous, pleasurable feeling 
is itself religion — and they call it "heartfelt 
religion.' ' I believe in sincere, heartfelt religion, 
but that is more than mere good feeling. 

The getting of this feeling of pleasurable ex- 
citement under religious stimulation is called con- 
version, or "getting religion," and it is believed 
to have been produced by the action of the Holy 
Ghost in a mysterious and supernatural way. The 

87 



THIRTY YEARS ON THE FIRING-LINE 

relief which they experience is attributed to the 
removal of their sins, and that is evidence, to them, 
of the pardon of all their transgressions. They 
constantly and confidently appeal to their feeling 
as evidence of their acceptance with God, whereas 
our acceptance with God depends upon His feeling 
about it instead of ours. 

They believe they are saved because they feel 
good, when they should feel good because they 
know they are saved, by having God's word for it. 
God can not lie, whereas our feelings are very 
deceptive and unreliable. 

Ask yourself these questions: Do I do right 
because I feel good, or do I feel good because I do 
right? Do I serve the Lord because I am happy, 
or am I happy because I serve the Lord? Do you 
know you are pardoned because you feel good, or 
do you feel good because you know you are par- 
doned? 

I have known bad people to feel good, and I 
have known some good people who did not feel 
good, and were not happy. 

I have seen a drunken man who was feeling 
good, acting like he owned the whole town, and 
was trying to walk on both sides of the street at 
the same time. He had no right to feel good, you 
must admit, hence his "good feeling' ' was no evi- 
dence that he was doing right. 

I have seen good people who were in great 
distress and were feeling bad, but that was no 



WHAT IS RELIGION? 



evidence that they were bad people, and were 
wicked in the sight of God. 

"We should never feel better nor worse than our 
actions will justify, and the correctness of our 
actions must be determined by God's word and not 
by our feelings. 

Paul felt that he was doing right when he was 
destroying the church of God, and he says he was 
the " chief of sinners/' yet he felt all right! 

This whole system is wrong, for it aims to 
"reconcile God to the sinner," instead of "recon- 
cile the sinner to God." The "anxious-seat" 
sinner virtually says : ' ' Here I am, Lord ; come and 
save me; give me that good feeling, so I'll know 
I am pardoned ; Lord, come, do come, Lord ! and 
if the Lord will only be pleased to come and 
pardon me, then 1 11 join the church and be good. ' ' 

Don't you see the work and effort are all with 
God? Does God need to be converted to the 
sinner, or does the sinner need to be converted 
to God? John R. Graves, a noted Baptist preacher 
and editor of the South, says: "Sinners have 
almost come to believe that they can not get 
religion without the revival and mourners' bench, 
or altar of prayer, with the loud and confused 
prayers and singing and shouting all together that 
usually accompany the bench, the altar or the 
straw-pen. 

"Multitudes are tremendously excited and made 
to profess a change of feeling, and in this state 



THIRTY YEARS ON THE FIRING-LINE 

hurried into the church; but the vast majority of 
these cases, when they cool off, find themselves back 
just where they were before the excitement and 
profession. And after going through this process 
once or twice more, they become thoroughly dis- 
gusted with what had been palmed off on them as 
religion, and are prepared to become obstinate 
infidels. We are satisfied that nine-tenths of all 
the infidels and Universalists of this country have 
become so through the influence of those benches, 
altars and straw-pens." (See Briney's Monthly, 
November, 1901.) 

That is very strong language from a man who 
had ample opportunity to know whereof he af- 
firmed. 

To further show the incompetency of feeling 
and the unreliableness of it as a witness to the 
truth, note this: One man proves his justification, 
or pardon, by feeling; another proves his sanctifi- 
cation (second blessing) by "his feeling; another 
proves his glorification (third blessing) by Ms 
feeling; another proves his deification (fourth 
blessing) by liis feeling; a Eoman Catholic, just 
from the confessional, proves that the priest par- 
doned his sins, by his feeling; the Mohammedan 
also proves his sins are pardoned by his feeling. 
How can you grant the witness to be true and reli- 
able in one instance and not reliable in the others? 

Ah! friends, feeling is not the witness at all. 
Truth is our only safe guide, and "thy word is 
90 



WHAT IS RELIGION? 



truth"! Why, you can not tell north from south 
by your feelings. Who has not been turned around 
that he could not tell which way was north? and 
yet you felt that a certain direction was north, in 
spite of the fact that the compass pointed in the 
opposite direction. Even Paul says: "I verily 
thought with myself, that I ought to do many 
things contrary to the name of Jesus of Nazareth' ' 
(Acts 26:9). 

Feelings may be right or they may be wrong, 
but God's word is right and can't be wrong. 

If I were lost in the woods with two men, and 
one had a compass, while the other was guided by 
his feelings, and these two differed, I would cer- 
tainly follow the one with the compass. Wouldn't 
you? 

Kerr B. Tupper once said, when I was in Den- 
ver in 1892, on the subject of "Knowing You Are 
a Christian": "Many people put wrong tests to 
themselves in settling the matter. Many make 
feeling the standard of judgment. Nowhere in the 
Bible is emphasis placed on emotion. In Scripture 
it is always principle and truth, never feeling and 
emotion. . . . The only test is obedience based on 
intelligent faith. The true Christian is the man who 
yields heart and intellect to the service of God." 

The emphasis given to feeling or emotion in 

religious revivals is the thing which led to the 

substitution of the " mourners' bench" in the place 

of baptism, for it is here that a doctrine, a precept, 

91 



THIRTY YEARS ON THE FIRING-LINE 

a command, of man has been substituted for the 
command or ordinance of our Lord; viz., Christian 
baptism. 

The " mourners' bench" was unknown in the 
Christian world until about one hundred years ago. 
It was taken up and used and popularized by 
Charles G-. Finney in his great revival work in 
America some fifty or sixty years ago. No one, 
therefore, is better qualified to speak on this sub- 
ject than Chas. G. Finney. In his "Kevival Lec- 
tures" (revised), page 254, he says: "In the days 
of the apostles, baptism answered this purpose. 
The gospel was preached to the people, and then 
all those who were willing to be on the side of 
Christ were called out to be baptized. It "held 
the precise place that the anxious-seat does now as 
a public manifestation of their determination to 
fee Cliristians." You may say, "Well, that's news 
to me." Very true, but the oldest things in re- 
ligion are the newest to those who have been sub- 
stituting the precepts of men for the command- 
ments of God. 

Geo. P. Fisher (Professor of Church History in 
Yale College — Congregationalist) says: "The one 
article of faith at the outset was that Jesus is the 
Messiah. Whoever acknowledged him in this char- 
acter was baptized." (Not asked to go to an 
"anxious-seat" or into an "inquiry-room.") 
("Christian Life; Christian Worship; Christian 
Teaching," Chap. III., p. 42.) 
92 



WHAT IS RELIGION? 



Neander's "Church History" (Vol. I., p. 385) 
says: "At the beginning, when it was important 
that the church should rapidly extend itself, those 
who confessed their belief in Jesus as the Messiah 
(amongst the Jews), or their belief in one God, 
and in Jesus as the Messiah (amongst the Gentiles), 
were immediately baptized, as appears from the 
New Testament." 

Mosheim says: "Whoever acknowledged Christ 
as the Saviour of mankind, and made a solemn pro- 
fession of his confidence in Him, was immediately 
baptized and received into the church" (Maclain's 
"Mosheim — First Century," Part II., Chap. II., 
Sec. 7, p. 38). 

People thus converted were saved. God's way 
has not changed, nor is it possible for us to 
improve on His way, or substitute something better. 
I want people to be happy in the Lord and to feel 
good, but not too soon, or before tlie truth gives 
them the right to rejoice. When God says, "Now 
you may rejoice," then you may be sure you have 
something to rejoice over, and may feel good and 
be happy. 

"He went on his way rejoicing" (Acts 8:39). 
Who? The eunuch. When? After he was bap- 
tized, not before. 

"He rejoiced, believing in God, with all his 
house" (Acts 16:34). Who? The jailor and his 
household, at Philippi. When? After they were 
baptized, not before. 

93 



THIRTY YEARS ON THE FIRING-LINE 

"If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye 
do them" (John 13:17). 

You must surely believe in the Lord Jesus and 
repent most truly of your sins, and then, confess- 
ing the name of Jesus before men, "be baptized 
into the name of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, 
for the remission of sins, and ye shall receive the 
gift of the Holy Spirit/' 

"They that gladly received his word were bap- 
tized; and the same day there were added unto 
them about three thousand souls." "And the 
Lord added to the church daily those that Were 
being saved." "He that believeth and is baptized 
shall be saved." 

There's absolutely no evidence that they were 
added, then saved, and then baptized, or that they 
were saved, then added, and then baptized (or not 
baptized at all, just as they saw fit). But God 
adds only the saved, and God's order seems to be 
(1) baptized, (2) saved, (3) added that same day, 
or daily. 

You may say that you know by your feelings 
that you were saved without, or before, baptism. 
I may say that I know by the word of God that 
I was saved when I was baptized, and I feel that 
way; now, isn't my feeling worth just as much as 
yours, while I have the added weight of God's 
word on my side? Feelings may change, but 
His word never changes. Only those feelings pro- 
duced by His word will abide unchanged forever. 
94 



THE CHRISTIAN AND HIS DISEASES 



IX 

THE CHRISTIAN AND HIS DISEASES 

Text. — "For this cause many are weak and sickly among 
you, and many sleep. ' ' — 1 Cor. 11 : 30. 

CHRISTIANS are those persons who believe that 
Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and who have 
accepted Him as their Lord and Saviour. They 
have been born anew, of the water and of the 
Spirit. They are new creatures, saints, peculiar 
people, zealous of good works; Spirit-led and 
Spirit-filled men and women. No one is a Chris- 
tian merely because he goes to church, any more 
than that he is a calf because he drinks milk! 
Many people say they are Christians, but not 
saints. That's a mistake. If you are a Christian, 
you are a saint. Where did you learn that the 
word "saint" meant more than the name " Chris- 
tian""? Oh, you got your idea from Rome, and 
not from Jerusalem. With Rome, a saint is a 
dead one — been dead several hundred years — long 
enough to forget all his defects, and to magnify 
his virtues out of all proportion to the deeds of 
the living. Then he is canonized, made a saint! 
95 



THIRTY YEARS ON THE FIRING-LINE 

That's the Roman brand. But God's saints are 
Christians, and all Christians are saints. If you 
are not a saint while living, there is nothing in 
death to make one out of you. Only saints will 
go to heaven. 

Christians are found wherever the gospel has 
been preached, believed and obeyed, and nowhere 
else. The gospel is the seed, Christians the fruit. 
Christians are known by their fruits — just as a 
tree. They are the salt of the earth, and as salt 
saves and preserves that with which it comes in 
contact, so Christians are saving those with whom 
they associate, and unless you do save them they 
will spoil you. If the salt does not save the meat, 
both spoil and are cast out and trodden underfoot 
of men. 

Christians are the light of the world; some of 
us are very dim lights. Some are "tallow dips," 
and need snuffing! Some are under a bushel or 
under a bed. Some are "turned off" altogether, 
or are burning a "high-low," to save current. 
Some are dirty, coal-oil-lamp Christians, and need 
cleaning ~and filling with the oil (Word and Spirit) 
of life. 

And "many are weak and sickly," and need 
"treatment," which treatment must be suited to 
the particular disease with which the patient is 
afflicted. An Irishman's wife was ill, and when he 
was asked if she were "dangerous," he answered: 
"Faith, no, she's too weak!" Many Christians 
96 



THE CHRISTIAN AND HIS DISEASES 

are too weak to be dangerous to the powers of 
darkness. 

The following are some of the spiritual diseases 
most common in our day: 

Sleeping sickness. "Many sleep.' ' The "tryp- 
an-a-so-ma, ' ' or "tsetse" fly, has inoculated them, 
and they will sleep and sleep, until they sleep the 
sleep of eternal death. 

Others have malaria, or the "bad air" disease. 
Get it from keeping bad company, and living in a 
poisonous social atmosphere, where the "Culex 
Anapholes" of sin injects the " Plasmodium 
malarie" into their circulation, and they have 
"chills and fever." These need the quinine of 
reproof, correction and instruction in righteous- 
ness. 

"Morbus Sabbaticus" is a common complaint. 
"Sunday sickness." A Saturday night dose of 
Bible reading, and study of the Sunday-school 
lesson, will cure this malady. 

Another disease, said to afflict women more often 
than men (though I think not), is "palpitation of 
the mouth,' 9 or "chronic verbal eruption, 9 ' an 
eczema, or breaking out at the mouth. Luther Ben- 
son, who wrote "Fifteen Years in Hell," the most 
vivid description of delirium tremens ever penned 
by man, and which deserves to be ranked with 
De Quincey's classic, "The Confessions of an 
English Opium-eater," told of a woman in a small 
town in Illinois who went from house to house, 
7 97 



THIRTY YEARS ON THE FIRING-LINE 

from morn till night, with tales of blistering blight, 
and would go to church on Sunday and sit up and 
sing: "0 for a thousand tongues! 9 ' Benson ex- 
claims: "What would the State of Illinois have 
done if she had had a thousand tongues like the 
one she had!" 

Some have dropsy. They first take a drop of 
liquor, then in rapid succession they drop their 
money, their friends, their business, their charac- 
ter, their health, their hope of heaven, and then 
they drop into hell. 

In the South there are many colonels, but in 
the church many generals — "General Debility!" 

Hydrophobia is very often met with. Hydra 
means water, phobia means fear. Many are afraid 
of water, and when you say "water" (baptism) 
they "throw a fit." We have to Pasteurize them. 
Others have hydrocephalus, which means "water 
on the brain." With them salvation is a matter 
of water. It's water, water, water, holy water! 
Water sprinkled everywhere and on everything. 
Don't you put any faith in water. You believe 
in Jesus Christ, and use water just when and where 
He commands it, in baptism, and but once — which 
will cure hydrocephalus. 

The " she-did-its" is the first disease described 
in the Bible. When God asked Adam about his con- 
duct, he replied: "She did it" — "the woman whom 
thou gavest to be with me, she gave me of the tree, 
and I did eat." And then the Lord asked Eve, 



THE CHRISTIAN AND HIS DISEASES 

and she caught the same disease, for she replied: 
"The serpent beguiled me, and I did eat." Yes, 
the devil did it! You see? We are too prone to 
blame others for what we should accuse ourselves. 
Self -accusation is easy for other people to stand. 
Try it. 

Supersoundness is a sort of elephantiasis of the 
soul. Some people are so sound they are like a 
bass drum — all sound. There's no peace or quiet- 
ness where they are. They suspect everybody of 
heresy, or unsoundness, and are like the Scotch- 
man who said there were only two men in the 
world that were sound — himself and his brother 
Sandy; and he sometimes had his "doots aboot 
Sandy." 

Another very distressing disease is "congestion 
of the wallet." The work of the church has been 
much retarded in all ages by this persistent dis- 
ease. Some men give of their means liberally and 
enjoy it, while others give out of their meanness 
with great distress! " Heart failure" is the in- 
variable accompaniment of this disease. Jessie 
Brown Pounds once said: "We have men in our 
church who are willing to stake their lives on the 
correctness of our position as to the mode, subject 
and design of baptism, but when it comes to the 
collection they are only willing to stake a nickel 
on it." 

The last disease which I shall name is the 
*' never-get-over~its." Those persons who have be- 



THIRTY YEARS ON THE FIRING-LINE 

come mortally offended because of real or imagi- 
nary wrongs, and who quit the church, and spend 
their time in its abuse, or that of its members. I 
was once in a great tent meeting in a county-seat 
town in Missouri. An old man, a regular atten- 
dant, sat well up in front every night, and seemed 
to rejoice in seeing many respond to the gospel 
invitation, but was immovable himself. After 
several weeks I received an invitation to take 
dinner with him. His son, a lawyer and judge, 
came to me and said: "You are to take dinner 
with father to-morrow, and I want to tell you about 
him and his trouble, and I hope you may be able 
to do him some good, for he has made home very 
miserable and unhappy ever since the war." I 
said: "Judge, I have heard about it, and I am 
going to administer heroic treatment to him." The 
old brother anxiously awaited my coming, and soon 
after my arrival introduced his grievance. I let 
him tell his story; of how he had been mistreated 
by certain men in the church, out at an old, 
country meeting-house, during the war. After he 
had finished, I asked him for the names of these 
men, that I might see if they were not willing to 
fix up things agreeable to him. He replied: "Why, 
Bro. Martin, they are all dead now." "What! 
All dead? And you are hating and reviling dead 
men? Have you nothing better to do than to hate 
dead men's bones? You think these men have gone 
to hell because you suspect that they informed the 
100 



THE CHRISTIAN AND HIS DISEASES 

soldiers as to where you had hidden your horses, 
and so you quit the church, and went back on 
Jesus, and all the good people in the church, none 
of whom ever wronged you. If you could not live 
with these men on earth, why are you going to hell 
to spend eternity with them? See here; you 
must forgive them or you are a lost man. Do 
you remember the unmerciful servant (Matt. 18: 
24-35) who owed his lord ten thousand talents 
(or twenty million dollars) and was forgiven the 
debt, but who refused to forgive one of his' fellow- 
servants who owed him one hundred pence, or 
seventeen dollars? " I read the passage to him, 
with the awful sentence: "Deliver him to the tor- 
mentors f till "ke shall pay all that was due unto 
him. So likewise shall my heavenly Father do 
also unto you, if ye from your hearts forgive not 
every one his brother their trespasses." I then 
quoted Mark 11:25, 26: "And when ye stand 
praying, forgive if ye have aught against any; 
that your Father also which is in heaven may 
forgive your trespasses. But if ye do not forgive, 
neither will your Father which is in heaven forgive 
your trespasses." Then I quoted from the Lord's 
Prayer: "Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive 
those that trespass against us." Just then dinner 
was called, and how I did enjoy that dinner, but 
"grandpa" had lost his appetite! When dinner 
was over, I soon went back to my room. That night 
"grandpa" was in his accustomed place. When 
101 



THIRTY YEARS ON THE FIRING-LINE 

the invitation was given, he said: "Let me out, let 
me out." He reached the aisle, and started toward 
me, saying: "Oh, Brother Martin, I forgive 'em, 
/ forgive 'em! Lord Jesus, forgive me; oh, forgive 
me!" There wasn't a dry eye in that great tent. 
A year later I saw him, and he told me how 
happy he had been that year, and he soon expected 
to go to heaven and see those old brethren of the 
old country church, who were such good neighbors 
before the war. He is gone now, and I hope is 
with them all in heaven. 

"The sandal-tree perfumes, when riven, 
The ax that laid it low; 
Let man, Who hopes to be forgiven, 
Forgive and bless his foe. ,, 

"He healeth all our diseases." 



102 



INFANT BAPTISM 



X 

INFANT BAPTISM 

Text. — "And, ye fathers, provoke not your children to 
wrath: but bring them up in the nurture and admonition of 
the Lord."— Eph. 6: 4. 

"And they brought young children to him, that he should 
touch them : and his disciples rebuked those that brought them. 
But when Jesus saw it, he was much displeased, and said unto 
them, Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid 
them not: for of such is the kingdom of God. Verily I say 
unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God 
as a little child, he shall not enter therein. And he took 
them tip in his arms, put his hands upon them, and olessed 
them."— Mark 10: 13-16. 

FOR hundreds of years discussion has raged over 
infant baptism, and in most pedobaptist 
churches there is no unanimity of faith and prac- 
tice. It has been a source of contention and strife 
from, its first introduction in the second and third 
centuries, some affirming, and others denying, the 
right of infants to be baptized. We all agree, 
however, that the parent, the church and the state 
are each and all under obligations to the child, 
and these should work in harmony for his good. 
103 



THIRTY YEARS ON THE FIRING-LINE 

They brought young children to Jesus that He 
should touch them. Right here let me say that 
if it is the will of God, it would then be my great- 
est pleasure to baptize infants. I have no preju- 
dice one way or the other. I have nothing against 
the infants, and nothing against baptism. I should 
be only too glad to baptize infants if the Lord 
commanded it. But I do object to infant baptism, 
or any other baptism, which the Bible does not 
authorize. Both babies and baptism are found 
many times in the New Testament, but never 
found together. God has not joined them together. 
''Suffer the little children to come unto me, and 
forbid them not." These words of Christ never 
had anything to do with baptism, and it is a 
deceitful use of His words to quote them as a text 
in favor of such a practice. Jesus never baptized 
anybody, much less these children. There is not 
a word about baptism in the passage. "He put 
his hands upon them, and blessed them;" "Jesus 
himself baptized not" (John 4:2). 

All Protestants are supposed to adhere to the 
maxim of Chillingworth, which is this: "The Bible, 
and the Bible only, contains the religion of Protes- 
tants." 

It is a maxim of law that the best possible testi- 
mony is the admission of your adversary or oppo- 
nent. 

Definition of "Infant Baptism." — "It is the 
sprinkling or pouring of water upon, or the im- 
104 



INFANT BAPTISM 



mersion of, an infant child in water, in the name 
of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit." It is called 
1 ' pedobaptism, " from the Greek word pais (paid), 
meaning child. It is called " christening " because 
it was supposed to induct the child into Christ, and 
make a Christian of it, at which time its name 
was pronounced, and that name was called its 
Christian name,- as, John Smith, John would be 
the name given at the christening, and hence the 
"Christian name." 

We affirm that there is neither command nor 
example for infant baptism in the New Testament. 

As "the best possible testimony is the admis- 
sion of an opponent," I shall give the testimony 
of many eminent pedobaptists, as follows: 

Dean Stanley (Episcopalian) : "The New Tes- 
tament has no example of infant baptism — a de- 
parture from primitive usage" ("Christian Insti- 
tutes," pp. 20, 21). 

Lange: "All attempts to make out infant bap- 
tism from the New Testament fail." 

De La Rogue: "The primitive church did not 
baptize infants." 

Dr. A. T. Bledsoe (one of the most eminent 
and. scholarly preachers of the M. E. Church, 
South, in his famous article on "The History of 
Infant Baptism," in the Southern Review, of which 
he was the editor, Vol. XIV., No. 30, April, 1874, 
pp. 334, 336) says: "It is an article of our faith 
that the baptism of young children is in anywise 
105 



THIRTY YEARS ON THE FIRING-LINE 

to be retained in the church, as most agreeable 
to the institution of Christ. But, yet, with all our 
searching, we have been unable to find, in the New 
Testament, a single express declaration, or word, 
in favor of infant baptism. . . . This may perhaps 
be deemed, by some of our readers, a strange 
position for a pedobaptist. It is by no means, 
however, a singular opinion, 

" Hundreds of learned pedobaptists have come 
to the same conclusion; especially since the New 
Testament has been subjected to a closer, more 
conscientious and more candid exegesis than was 
formerly practiced by controversialists. 

"But, what we wish to emphasize most par- 
ticularly is the wonderful contrast between the 
silence of Christ and the everlasting clamors of His 
church. Though He uttered not one express word 
on the subject of infant baptism, yet on this very 
subject have his professed followers filled the world 
with sound and fury." 

Dean Henry Alford (Episcopalian) says: 
"They ought to declare that infant baptism was a 
practice unknown to the apostles.'' 

Henry Ward Beecher ("Christian Union," 
May 8, 1864): "I concede and assert, first, that 
infant baptism is nowhere commanded in the New 
Testament. No man can find a passage that com- 
mands it ... . There is no well-attested case of its 
administration in the New Testament, and it is not 
brought down as a substitute for circumcision — 
106 



INFANT BAPTISM 



a doctrine which is utterly untenable, to say noth- 
ing more." 

Prof. J. L. Jacobi, of Berlin, says: "Infant 
baptism was established neither by Christ nor His 
apostles. ' ' 

Neander (church historian) : "It is certain that 
Christ did not ordain infant baptism." 

Dr. Wall ("History of Infant Baptism") : 
"Among all the persons that are recorded as bap- 
tized by the apostles, there is no express mention 
of any infant." 

Dr. Bloomfield: "Commands or plain examples 
in the New Testament, relative to it, I do not find. ' ' 

Schaff-Herzog Cyclopedia: "There is no trace 
of infant baptism in the New Testament." 

Meyer's Commentary on Acts: "Therefore 
the baptism of the children of Christians, of which 
no trace is found in the New Testament, is not to 
be held as an apostolic ordinance." 

Martin Luther says: "It can not be proved 
by the sacred Scriptures that infant baptism was 
instituted by Christ, or began by the first Chris- 
tians after the apostles" (Booth's "Paedobaptism 
Examined," Vol. I., p. 303, 1787— from A. R.'s 
"Vanity of Infant Baptism," Part II., p. 8 — 
Abraham Booth, a noted English writer). 

Doctrinal Catechism (Catholic Church — ap- 
proved by Archbishop Hughes, Baltimore) : 

"Q. How do Catholics prove that infants ought 
to be baptized? 

107 



THIRTY YEARS ON THE FIRING-LINE 

''A. Not from Scripture alone, which is not 
clear on this subject, but from Scripture illustrated 
by the constant tradition of the church. It does 
not appear from the Scripture that even one infant 
was ever baptized, therefore Protestants should 
reject it; on their own principle, infant baptism 
is an unscriptural usage. ' ' 

Thomas Chalmers, D.D. (Presbyterian — chief 
founder of the Presbyterian Free Church of Scot- 
land), says: "If the Scriptures give us no other 
testimony in favor of infant baptism, they give 
us at least the testimony of their silence" 

I have here quoted fifteen of the most competent 
and best known pedobaptist writers, from Martin 
Luther down to the present, and all declare that 
infant baptism is unknown to the New Testament. 
If "the Bible only" contains our religion, we shall 
have to drop infant "baptism forever. 

Grounds of Infant Baptism. 

It is either a sin to baptize infants, or it is a 
sin to neglect it. Certainly it is not left to our 
choice or whim. They either should or should not 
be baptized. 

The question arises: "On what ground has the 
baptism of infants been practiced V 

We answer, "On the ground of pure theological 
speculation. ? ' 

First — The doctrine of original sm. 

Second — The doctrine of baptismal regeneration. 
108 



INFANT BAPTISM 



Origen (A. D. 185-254) believed in the guilt of 
infants, and also took the extreme view with refer- 
ence to the magical power of water (holy water, 
or trans el-lem-en-ta-ted water), and he is the first 
man on record to advocate the practice of infant 
baptism. When he was besieged with inquiries 
concerning this new practice, he answered: " Hav- 
ing occasion given in this place, I will mention 
a thing that causes frequent inquiries among the 
brethren: Infants are baptized for the forgiveness 
of sins. Of what sins? or when have they sinned? 
or how can any reason of the laved in their case 
hold good? 

"But, according to that sense we mentioned 
even now: None is free from pollution, though 
his life be but of the length of one ray upon 
the earth. And it is for that reason because 
of the sacrament of baptism that pollution of 
our birth is taken away, that infants are bap- 
tized" ( Origen 's "Works," Vol. I., p. 65). But 
we find that 

Tertullian, who lived at the same time, op- 
posed infant baptism, because he did not believe in 
the doctrine of original sin, though he did believe 
in the holy-water dogma. 

In' further proof of the correctness of my an- 
swer, I will quote from Dr. Bledsoe and John 
Wesley. 

Dr. Bledsoe says: "Thus, according to Ne- 
ander, the tendency in favor of infant baptism 
109 



THIRTY YEARS ON THE FIRING-LINE 

obtained the victory in the Western Church 
(Roman Catholic) by means of two things: 

"1. The magical notion of baptism. 

"2. The doctrine of original sin. 

"Tertullian opposed the practice of infant bap- 
tism because his views of original sin were not 
sufficiently developed." 

John Wesley (" Doctrinal Tracts," p. 251) 
says: "If infants are guilty of original sin, then 
they are proper subjects of baptism: seeing, in an 
ordinary way, they can not be saved unless this be 
washed away by baptism. In an ordinary way 
there is no other means of entering into the church 
or even into heaven." 

John Wesley wrote the above as an Episco- 
palian; he was a High Churchman, and died an 
Episcopalian, March 2, 1791. 

The above is not the teaching of the great 
Methodist Church of to-day ; though they still prac- 
tice infant baptism, they do so upon other grounds, 
which we regard as even worse than the above. 

Though the original grounds of infant baptism, 
as given by Origen, have been pretty generally 
abandoned except by Catholics and High Church 
Episcopalians, many and diverse are the grounds 
upon which the practice is sought to be perpet- 
uated. 

Cyprian grounds it on "the universality of 
divine grace.'' 

Austin, on "the faith of the church." 
110 



INFANT BAPTISM 



Baxter, on "the faith of the parents." 

Church of England, on "the faith of the 
sponsors." 

Luther, on "the faith of the infants them- 
selves." 

Calvin, on "faith and repentance in semine." 

Dr. Halley, on "the commission to teach and 
"baptize all nations." 

Dr. E. "Williams, on "the moral qualifications 
of the infants themselves." 

Dr. Miller (Independent) says: "The children 
of professing Christians are already in the church. 
They were born members. They were baptized be- 
cause they were members." 

The above is also the teaching of the Methodist 
Episcopal Church. 

Bishop S. M. Merrill says : * ' Infants are in the 
kingdom, and therefore they ought to be admitted 
to the right of baptism " (Christian-Evangelist, 
St. Louis, March 22, 1900). 

The Methodist Discipline (p. 35, edition of 
1896) says: "We hold that all children, by virtue 
of the unconditional benefit of the Atonement, are 
members of the kingdom of God, and therefore 
graciously entitled to baptism. " 

Nothing more absolutely false and unscriptural 
than the above has ever been put forth as an excuse 
for infant baptism. It is simply astonishing. Why, 
if that is true, there is not an alien sinner on earth, 
and has not been one since Jesus made the atone- 
Ill 



THIRTY YEARS ON THE FIRING-LINE 

ment. Everybody has been born, and everybody 
is therefore in the kmgdom of God. There's not 
a soul now out of Christ's kingdom, if everybody 
is born (of the flesh) into it. Then, all that re- 
mains is just to baptize them because they are 
already in the kingdom of God. 

I deny the above with all the earnestness of 
my soul. Listen ! listen ! Jesus says : ' ' That which 
is born of the flesh is flesh." "Marvel not that 
I said unto thee, Ye must be born again." "Ex- 
cept a man [any one. — Gk.] be bom again, he 
cannot see the kingdom of God" (John 3:3-7). 

And, in the face of all this, the Discipline and 
Bishop Merrill and Dr. Miller tell us that we all 
got into the kingdom of God without any new 
birth; we were just born into it when we were 
born of the flesh.- Preposterous! 

Paul says (1 Cor. 15:50): "Now this I say, 
brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the 
kingdom of God;" that is, the kingdom of God is 
not inherited by blood descent like earthly king- 
doms are sometimes inherited. I am not in the 
kingdom of God because my father was, any more 
than I am a Freemason because he was. If I am 
a Christian, I must be "born again," and if I 
am a Freemason, I must join the Masons for my- 
self. 

Henry Ward Beecher supposes some one to 
persist in demanding a Scripture text for this 
ordinance, and asks: "Where is your text for bap- 
112 



INFANT BAPTISM 



tizing children V I reply : ' ' There is none. ' ' And 
if I am asked, "Then, why do you baptize them?" 
I say: "Because it is found to be beneficial." 
And if men say to me, "Do you think the baptism 
of children a divine ordinance?" my reply is: "I 
believe an ox-yoke is a divine ordinance. When 
men found out that shaping a piece of wood across 
the neck of an ox was the way to get the use of 
his strength, that piece of wood became a divine 
ordinance." 

Mr. Beecher was a great preacher, but his logic 
was sometimes lame. He contends for infant bap- 
tism on the ground of utility, the same as for the 
use of an ox-yoke. Does Mr. Beecher see no differ- 
ence between using the ox-yoke in the name of 
utility, and using it in the name of the Father, 
Son and Holy Ghost? Would he permit any one 
to yoke an ox in the name of the Father, Son and 
Holy Ghost? Oh, no, certainly not! Then, why 
put water on the infant in the name of the Father, 
Son and Holy Ghost? Let us put the ox-yoke on 
the ox in the name of utility, and put water on 
the infants in the name of utility also. Yes, 
sprinkle it on, pour it on, or immerse them in it 
— and rub well. All in the name of utility! but 
not in the name of the Father, Son and Holy 
Ghost. Why, friends, vaccination is useful, and it 
is done because of its utility. But it is not done 
in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost; 
and it would be blasphemous to vaccinate a person 
8 113 



THIRTY YEARS ON THE FIRING-LINE 

in the name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost. 
Neither should water be put on a child in the 
name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost, for 
God never commanded it to be done. 

Dr. E. "Williams says: "The champions of 
infant baptism are by no means agreed upon the 
question. On what is the right of infants to bap- 
tism founded?" 

Indeed, the confusion amongst pedobaptists on 
this question reminds me of the old stanza: 

"They wire in and wire out, 
And leave the people still in doubt 
Whether the snake that made the track 
Was going north or coming back." 

What Is Infant Baptism For? 

The Catholics, and some others, baptize infants 
to save them from original sin, to save them from 
being lost, or blotted out forever. They will not 
allow the dead body of an unbaptized infant to be 
buried in one of their cemeteries. 

The Church of England says: "Baptism, where- 
in I was made a member of Christ, a child of God, 
an inheriter of the kingdom of God." 

Others give these (or additional) reasons for it, 
but they all lack God's command. It is not in the 
Bible. Hence, it is a surrender of our great 
maxim: "The Bible, only, contains our religion." 

It makes impossible the Saviour's command 
to baptize the believer. (The infant has no faith.) 
114 



INFANT BAPTISM 



It is done in the name of the Father, Son and 
Holy Ghost, and neither of them ever authorized 
it, therefore it is taking the name of God in vain. 

It makes conversion unnecessary in order to get 
into the church (or kingdom of heaven, which is 
the same). 

The Roman Catholic Church claims all baptized 
infants as belonging to her. This may be strange 
news to many of my readers. But listen to this: 

Archbishop Purcell ("Campbell and Purcell 
Debate," p. 72, Cincinnati, 1837) says: "She [the 
Roman Catholic Church] counts, as belonging to 
her communion, all of the children baptized in 
Protestant communions, who die before they are 
capable of committing mortal sin, or who, living in 
invincible ignorance that they have been bred up 
in error, keep the commandments of God, and love 
him, as far as their knowledge of his divine nature 
will permit. All these belong to the soul of the 
church, and are consequently among the most 
precious of her fold." 

Paul says: "And, ye fathers, provoke not your 
children to wrath; but bring them up in the nur- 
ture and admonition of the Lord" (Eph. 6:4). 
"Nurture" means "to nourish," feed, train, dis- 
cipline, educate. "Admonish" means to advise, 
exhort, warn, instruct, direct, guide. When the 
parent does these things, he has done his duty 
toward the child. It is worse than useless to do 
things which God has never commanded. Paul 
115 



THIRTY YEARS ON THE FIRING-LINE 

says: "(Touch not; taste not; handle not; which 
all are to perish with the using;) after the com- 
mandments and doctrines of men" (Col. 2:21, 22). 

Jesus says: "Go teach all nations, baptizing 
them," etc. There you see we must teach first, 
then baptize. With infant baptism it is just the 
reverse. 

Jesus also says: "He that believeth and is 
baptized shall be saved." Note the order of the 
words — believeth, baptized, saved. As faith comes 
by hearing the word of God, would it not be best 
to believe it just as the Word states it? 

May God bless this message to the good of 
honest, inquiring men and women who have be- 
come entangled in the doctrines, traditions and 
commandments of men, is my prayer, 



116 



WHAT IS BAPTISM? 



XI 
WHAT IS BAPTISM? 

Text. — ' ' One Lord, one faith, one baptism. ' ' — Eph. 4 : 5. 
'Then answered Peter, Can any man forbid the water, 
that these should not be baptized, which have received the 
Holy Ghost as well as we ? And he commanded them to be bap- 
tized in the name of Jesus Christ' ' (Acts 10: 46-48 — R. V.). 

il Having been buried with him in baptism, wherein ye 
were also raised with him through faith in the working of 
God, who raised him from the dead" (Col. 2: 12— R. V.). 

NOTHING is ever settled until it is settled 
right," and no man's " think so" can be sub- 
stituted for God's "say so." 

Abraham Lincoln said: "Stand with anybody 
that stands right, stand with him while he is right, 
and part with him when he goes wrong." 

Water baptism is practiced by all Christian 
denominations except the Friends (Quakers) and 
the Salvation Army (including the Volunteers of 
America). 

We affirm that the immersion of a penitent 
believer, in water, into the name of the Father, 
Son and Holy Spirit, and that alone, is Scriptural 
baptism. 

117 



THIRTY YEARS ON THE FIRING-LINE 

Christ was baptized but once, hence but one 
way. Whatever that way was is just what He 
meant for us to do when He commanded us to be 
baptized. 

There are eighty-eight passages, and five allu- 
sions to the subject of baptism, in the New Testa- 
ment — 17 times in Matthew, 10 times in Mark, 12 
times in Luke, 11 times in John, 23 times in Acts, 
2 times in Romans, 8 times in 1 Corinthians, and 
once each in Galatians, Ephesians, Colossians, 1 
Peter and Hebrews. 

The five allusions to baptism are as follows: 
John 3:5: "Born of water;" Heb. 10:22: "Bodies 
washed in pure water ; ' ' Tit. 3:5: " Washing of 
regeneration ; ' ' Rom. 6:5: " Planted in the likeness 
of his death ; ' ' Rom. 6:17: " Having obeyed . . . 
that form of doctrine." 

My first argument in favor of immersion is the 
meaning of the Greek word baptizo. I shall quote 
ten or more of the leading Greek lexicons (diction- 
aries) : 

Walderus says: "Baptizo — Immergo, im- 
merse." 

Stephens says: "Baptizo — Immerse, submerge, 
bury in water, wash, bathe." 

Heidericus says: "Baptizo — Merge, immerse, 
bury in water, wash, bathe, baptize." 

Schleusner (Glasgow, Vol. I., p. 338) : "Bap- 
tizo, properly to immerse, to dip, to immerse in 
water," 

118 



WHAT IS BAPTISM? 



Green: "Baptizo — To dip, to immerse." 

Greenfield: "Baptizo — To immerse, to im- 
merge, to submerge, to sink." 

Groves: li Baptizo — To dip, to immerse, to im- 
merge, to plunge." 

Robinson: " Baptizo — To dip in, to sink, to im- 
merse. ' ' 

Dr. W. Pope (Berlin Gymnasium, 1880) : 
"Baptizo — To dip in, to dip under." 

Liddell and Scott (seventh edition, p. 274) : 
"To dip in or under water." On page 94 they 
say: "To dip repeatedly, to immerse, to sub- 
merge. ' ' 

Thayer (Joseph Henry), Professor of New 
Testament Criticism and Interpretation in Harvard 
University, Cambridge, Mass. — Congregationalist) : 

"Baptizo — I. (1) Properly, to dip repeatedly, 
to immerge, to submerge. 

"(2) To cleanse by dipping or submerging, to 
wash, to make clean with water. 

"(3) Metaphorically, to overwhelm, to be over- 
whelmed with calamities, of those who must bear 
them. 

"II. In the New Testament it is used particu- 
larly of the right of sacred ablution, first insti- 
tuted by John the Baptist, afterwards by Christ's 
command received by Christians, and adjusted to 
the contents and nature of their religion. An im- 
mersion in water performed as a sign of the 
removal of sin, and administered to those who, im- 
119 



THIRTY YEARS ON THE FIRING-LINE 

pelled by a desire for salvation, sought admission 
to the Messiah's kingdom. 

"Baptisma (baptism) : A word peculiar to the 
New Testament and ecclesiastical writings, immer- 
sion, submersion. (3) Of Christian baptism: this, 
according to the view of the apostles, is a rite of 
sacred immersion commanded by Christ." 

I have given the definition quite fully as given 
by Thayer, for his lexicon is the standard, together 
with Liddell and Scott, now in most general use in 
all the colleges and universities of America. 

If that is what the word means, then that is 
what must be done, in order to obey our Lord's 
command. 

My second argument is the testimony of cele- 
brated pedobaptist scholars, as to what baptism 
really is. 

Charles Anthon, LL.D. (Episcopalian, Pro- 
fessor of Latin and Greek, Columbia College, New 
York). Of the word baptizo, he says: "The 
primary meaning is dip or immerse. Secondary, if 
it has any, refers to the same leading idea. Sprink- 
ling is entirely out of the question. ' ' 

Moses Stewart, D.D. ( Congregationalist, Pro- 
fessor in Andover Theological Seminary), says: 
tl Bapto and baptizo mean dip, plunge or immerse 
into any liquid" {Mode of Baptism, p. 51). 

Rt. Rev. Dr. Trenan (Roman Catholic) : 
"Plunged into the water. Baptizo strictly conveys 
this signification, as all the learned are agreed." 
120 



WHAT IS BAPTISM? 



Olshausen {Commentaries, Vol. II., p. 265) 
says: "John was also baptizing in the neighbor- 
hood, because the water there, being deep, afforded 
convenience for immersion." 

Bishop John Lightfoot (Wlwle Works, Vol. 
XI., p. 63, and Works, Vol. II., p. 121) says: 
"That the baptism of John was by plunging the 
body seems to appear from those things related 
of him; namely, that he baptized in Jordan; 
that he baptized in Enon, because there was much 
water there; and that Christ, being baptized, came 
up out of the water, to which that seems to be 
parallel (Acts 8:38)." 

Martin Luther (Vol. I., pp. 71 and 336; Vol. 
II., p. 19) says: "Baptism is a Greek word, and 
may be translated a dipping, as when we dip 
something into water, that it may be covered with 
water. ... I would have those that are to be 
baptized to be wholly dipped into the water, as 
the word imports, and the mystery doth signify." 

John Calvin says (Institutes, Book IV., Chap. 
XV., Sec. 19) : "The ve^y word l baptize ' signifies 
to immerse; and it is certain that immersion was 
the practice of the primitive church." On John 
3:23 he says: "Here we perceive how baptism 
was administered among the ancients, for they im- 
mersed the whole body in water." 

Philip Schaff (Presbyterian — President of 
Union Theological Seminary — History of Apostolic 
Church, pp. 568, 569) says: "Immersion, and not 

121 



THIRTY YEARS ON THE FIRING-LINE 



sprinkling, was unquestionably the original normal 
form. This is shown by the very meaning of the 
Greek words baptizo, baptisma, baptismos. . . . 
Finally by the general usage of ecclesiastical an- 
tiquity, which was always immersion, as it is to 
this day in the Oriental and also in the Grseco- 
Russian churches. " 

Dr. Brenner (Roman Catholic, in his book 
Historical Exhibition of the Administration of Bap- 
tism, p. 306) says: " Thirteen hundred years was 
baptism generally and regularly an immersion of 
the person under the water, and only in extraor- 
dinary cases a sprinkling or pouring with water; 
the latter was disputed as a mode of baptism (in 
the Catholic Church), nay, even forbidden." 

Dean Stanley (Episcopalian, Dean of West- 
minster, and spiritual head of English Episcopal 
Church), in Christian Institutions, Harper's edi- 
tion, page 17, says: "For the first thirteen centuries 
the almost universal practice of baptism was that 
of which we read in the New Testament, and which 
is the very meaning of the word 'baptize' — that 
those who were baptized were plunged, submerged, 
immersed into the water." 

Such testimony as the above does not need any 
comment; the statements are clear and without 
equivocation. 

My third argument is a consideration of the 
language used in the New Testament in describing 
the baptisms which are recorded therein. 
122 



WHAT IS BAPTISM? 



The New Testament speaks of the following ten 
things : 

(1) Water, (2) much water, (3) going to the 
water, (4) going down into the water, (5) coming 
up out of the water, (6) a "burial," (7) a "plant- 
ing," (8) a "birth," (9) a "resurrection," (10) 
"bodies washed." 

All the above are present in immersion, whereas 
only one of the ten is present in sprinkling and 
pouring; that is water! 

"With our knowledge of human nature and 
conduct, do you believe that if Christ had com- 
manded sprinkling or pouring, men would ever 
have substituted immersion for it? Is it not more 
likely that they would substitute the easier for 
the more difficult, rather than the more difficult 
(immersion) for the easier (sprinkling) ? Think 
over that matter. 

The Change. 

There has evidently been a change sometime, 
someivliere, by somebody; for we have a part of 
the world using immersion, and other portions 
using sprinkling or pouring. ' ' Christ was baptized 
but once, hence but one way." If He was im- 
mersed, He was not sprinkled or poured, and vice 
versa. As we have affirmed that the primitive 
baptism was immersion, it will strengthen our con- 
tention to show when, where and by whom sprink- 
ling and pouring were substituted for immersion. 
123 



THIRTY YEARS ON THE FIRING-LINE 

The first case of sprinkling found in church 
history is that of Novatian, in the year 251 A. D. 
It is mentioned by Eusebius (who is called the 
" Father of Church History") as follows: "He 
[Novatian] falling into a grievous distemper, and 
it being supposed that he would die immediately, 
he received baptism, being [perichutJiis] poured 
around with water on the bed whereon he lay, 
if that can be called baptism." 

Now, this is the first mention of a substitute 
for immersion to be found in all the world, and it 
was without any authority from either God or 
man. They just did it without any authority 
whatever. 

I will now give you an account of the first time 
man (the Pope) gave authority for the substitute. 
I quote from the Edinburgh Encyclopaedia — Ar- 
ticle, "Baptism" (by Sir Edward Brewster — Pres- 
byterian) : 

"Pope Stephen III., being driven from Rome by 
Astolphus (or Aistulph), King of the Lombards 
in 753 A. D., fled to Pepin, who, a short time 
before, had usurped the crown of France. . . . 
While there the monks of Cressy inquired of him 
if, in case of necessity, it would be lawful, in 
baptizing, to pour water out of the hand, or cup, 
on the head of an infant?" 

Before the Pope would answer this question, 
he required the priests to secure the promise of 
Pepin to take up his cause and expel the Lom- 
124 



WHAT IS BAPTISM? 



bards from Italy. This they were able to do, as 
Pepin's throne was insecure, and a church alliance 
would help to strengthen it. The Pope then an- 
swered: "In case of necessity, such baptism should 
be held valid." 

That is the first authority ever given on earth 
for sprinkling or pouring, and the Pope of Rome 
gives it. Truly it is the Pope's baptism, and not 
the baptism practiced and authorized by Christ 
and the apostles. 

Listen to this from the Encyclopedia Britan- 
nica, Vol. III., page 351 : 

Baptism. — "The usual mode of performing the 
ceremony was by immersion. In the case of sick 
persons {clinici) the minister was allowed to bap- 
tize by pouring water upon the head, or by sprink- 
ling. In the early [not primitive or apostolic — 
S. M.] church clinical baptism, as it was called, 
was only permitted in cases of necessity, but the 
practice of baptism by sprinkling gradually came 
in, in spite of opposing councils and hostile de- 
crees. The Council of Ravenna in 1311 was the 
first council of the church [Roman Catholic] which 
legalized sprinkling by leaving it to the choice of 
the officiating minister." 

Now, what do you think of that? First, Nova- 
tian had water poured over or around him in the 
year 251, ivithout any authority from either God 
or man. Then Pope Stephen authorizes sprinkling 
or pouring of sick infants in 753, and the Roman 
125 



THIRTY YEARS ON THE FIRING-LINE 

Catholic Council of Ravenna legalizes sprinkling 
and pouring by leaving it to the choice of the 
priest, in 1311. 

Of course, the Catholic Church claims the right 
to make such changes, as you will see from the fol- 
lowing article from the "Catholic Review/ ' which 
says: "The Catholic Church, as the infallible cus- 
todian of the matter and form of the sacraments, 
claims the right to interpret them and modify 
them with accidental conditions. Up to the thir- 
teenth century both the Greek and the Latin 
Churches used immersion in the solemn adminis- 
tration of baptism. In fact, our Lord and His 
apostles baptized with this rite. Christ himself 
was baptized in this way by St. John." This 
same writer says further: 

"A change in the mode of baptism was made 
in the Latin Church in the thirteenth century. 
As we have already hinted, the Catholic Church 
claims the right to modify in accidentals the mat- 
ter and form of the Sacraments. ' ' 

Dr. Wm. "Wall (Episcopalian, Vicar of Shore- 
ham, Kent), in his "History of Infant Baptism," 
Vol. L, pages 570, 571, says: "Their general and 
ordinary way was to baptize by immersion. . . . 
This is so plain, by an infinite number of pas- 
sages, that one can but pity the weak endeavors 
of such pedobaptists as would maintain the nega- 
tive of it. . . . France seems to have been the first 
country in the world where baptism by affusion 
126 




WHAT IS BAPTISM? 



was used ordinarily to persons in health and in 
the public way of administering it. . . . Sprinkling 
was really introduced (in France first, and then in 
other popish countries) in times of popery; and 
accordingly, all those countries in which the 
usurped power of the Pope is, or has been for- 
merly, owned, left off dipping children in the 
fount; but that all other countries in the world 
which had never regarded his authority do still 
use immersion." 

Listen to this from the great Dr. Gale: "All 
men know that baptism used to be administered 
in England by dipping or immersion, till Queen 
Elizabeth's time — 1558 — since which time that 
pure, primitive manner has grown into a total 
disuse within a little more than one hundred 
years; and sprinkling, the most opposite to it im- 
aginable, introduced in its stead. The fact is 
notorious. ' ' 

Have You Been Baptized? 

Marcus Aurelius (Antoninus) says: "I seek 
the truth, by which no man was ever injured. But 
he is injured who abides in his error and igno- 
rance. ' ' 

Josiah Strong says: "As long as truth is 
truth, it does make some difference what men 
believe. ' ' 

Gladstone said: "I will adopt new views as 
fast as they prove to be true views." 
127 



THIRTY YEARS ON THE FIRING-LINE 

What Is Baptism? 

The importance of the ordinance of baptism 
is sufficient reason for the discussion of this ques- 
tion. 

There are some who very confidently affirm 
that baptism has nothing whatever to do with sal- 
vation, and hence it does not matter how it is 
done, or whether it is done at all. 

I think we should be very careful here. Jesus 
walked about sixty or seventy miles that He might 
be baptized, and said: "Thus it becometh us to 
fulfil all righteousness." Do you think you can 
fulfill all righteousness and omit baptism? Peter 
said: "Repent, and be baptized every one of you 
. . . for the remission of sins." Jesus said: "He 
that believeth and is baptized shall be saved." 
There baptism is connected directly with salvation. 
Peter says: "Wherein few, that is, eight souls, 
were saved by water: the like figure whereunto 
even baptism doth now save us" (1 Pet. 3: 
20, 21). 

Baptism is the only thing that we are com- 
manded to perform in the name of the Father, 
Son and Holy Ghost, and it must be an awful sin 
to speak or think lightly of a command which God 
has thus honored and dignified. There is not 
another thing in the Bible that we are authorized 
to do in the name of the Father, Son and Holy 
Ghost. 

128 



THE LORD'S SUPPER 



XII 

THE COMMUNION, OR THE LORD'S SUPPER 

Texts. — ' ' This do in remembrance of me. ' ' — 1 Cor. 2 : 24 ; 
Luke 22 : 19. 

THE following are all the references I find on 
this important subject in the New Testament 
Matt. 26:26-30; Mark 14:1-27; Luke 22:14-21 
Acts 2:42; 20:7; 1 Cor. 10:16, 17; 11:23-34 
Heb. 10:25. 

In none of these do we find any mention of 
"open communion/ ' "close communion, " "free," 
"mixed" or "restricted" communion. 

Unscriptural words usually convey unscriptural 
ideas. I practice communion, but neither "open" 
nor "close," both of which involve the examination 
of another, and I am instructed to examine myself, 
and so eat and drink (1 Cor. 11:28). I do not 
invite . any one, nor debar any one. I myself am 
only an invited guest. 

Errors and Innovations. 

Corruptions and innovations found their way 
into the church very early, even while the apostles 
9 129 



THIRTY YEARS ON THE FIRING-LINE 

were still on earth. Corrupt practices and false 
doctrines found place in the church ; many of these 
are denounced in the apostolic epistles. The Lord's 
Supper did not escape abuse. The night in which 
our Saviour was betrayed, after the supper in the 
upper room, He first took a loaf (this was doubtless 
a loaf of unleavened bread) ; He gave thanks, brake 
it, and said: "Take, eat: this is my body, which is 
broken for you: this do in remembrance of me" 
(1 Cor. 11:24). "After the same manner also 
he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, This 
cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, 
as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me" 
(1 Cor. 11: 25). We believe this to have contained 
the unfermented "fruit of the vine." It is never 
called wine in the New Testament. While I do 
not think that a communion would be nullified by 
the use of fermented wine, or of bread with yeast 
in it, still we think it is safer to use the other, 
though not indispensable to a true communion. 

Of the origin of close communion, Geo. P. 
Fisher, of Yale College ("Church History," p. 66), 
says: "Toward the conclusion of the second cen- 
tury we find it to be the custom to exclude non- 
communicants from being present at the Lord's 
Supper. After the preliminary services, at the 
close of the addresses by the bishop and presby- 
ters, the unbaptized were dismissed. From the 
Latin word signifying dismissal (missa) the word 
'mass' is derived." 

130 



THE LORD'S SUPPER 



From the language of Jesus, "This is my body, 
this is my blood," was evolved the doctrine of 
tran-sub-stan-ti-a-tion. "In the ninth century, 
the doctrine of transubstantiation began to be 
talked of commonly, but was made infallible by 
Pope Innocent III., in the Fourth Lateran Council 
—1215" ("Campbell-Purcell Debate," p. 277). 
The Council of Trent, Canon 6, curses any who 
affirm that it is a human invention (1545-1563). 
Let us examine this false teaching. 

This doctrine affirms the instantaneous, mirac- 
ulous change of the elements, from bread and wine, 
to the flesh and blood ("body, blood, soul and 
divinity") of Jesus Christ. 

In fact, Eome teaches that there is a series of 
intangible miracles attending upon it. I quote 
below from a recent publication (1915) used as a 
text-book in Catholic schools, "Manual of Christian 
Doctrine," authorized English version, by Joseph 
McVay, pages 423-4: 

"Question 41 — How does the eucharist manifest 
God's power?" 

"Answer — It is a compendium of miracles, 
among which we may note the following: 

"(1) The change of the substance of bread and 
wine into that of the body and the blood of Jesus 
Christ, 

"(2) The return of the species, when they are 
corrupted, to the substance in which they naturally 
belong. 

131 



THIRTY YEARS ON THE FIRING-LINE 

"(3) The remaining of the accidents, or ap- 
pearances, of bread and wine, after the bread and 
wine have ceased to exist. 

"(4) The remaining of the qualities of the 
sensible species, just as if their substance had not 
been changed. 

"(5) The presence of Jesus Christ at the same 
time in heaven and under the sacramental species 
in a multitude of different places. 

"(6) The presence of Jesus Christ, whole and 
entire and living, under the sacred species. 

" (7) The presence in the holy eucharist of the 
three persons of the Blessed Trinity as a conse- 
quence of the union of the person of Jesus Christ 
with the person of the Son of God, and the union 
of the Son of God with the Father and the Holy 
Ghost. 

"(8) The spiritual manner in which our Lord 
exists under the sacred species, where he is whole 
and entire under every part, although he has but 
a single existence. 

"(9) The multiplication of his presence in 
every particle of the species, however small it 
may be. 

"(10) The withdrawal of his presence when 
the species corrupt." 

All this " theology' ' grows out of a literal in- 
terpretation of Christ's words, which should be 
taken in a symbol; just as when He said: "I am 
the door — the vine — the bread — the rock — the 
132 



THE LORD'S SUPPER 



water — the light — the way." And "go tell that 
fox" (Herod). The "bread" and "cup" symbol- 
ized His body broken, and His blood shed, for us. 
Consubstantiation is equally incorrect. Web- 
ster (Diet.) says: "The Lutherans maintain that 
after consecration of the elements, the body and 
blood of Christ are substantially present with the 
substance of the bread and wine . . . each un- 
changed in its substance, and without substantial 
conjunction. ' ' 

Who Should Commune? 

The religious world is practically united in 
answer to this question. Answer: Baptized Be- 
lievers. 

Justin Martyr says: "It is not lawful for any 
to partake . . . but such as believe and have been 
baptized. ' ' 

Theophylact says: "No unbaptized person par- 
takes of the Lord's Supper." 

Lord Chancellor King says: "Baptism was al- 
ways the precedent of the Lord's Supper, and none 
were admitted . . . till they were baptized." 

Dr. Wall says: "No church ever gave the com- 
munion to any persons before they were baptized. 
Among all the absurdities that ever were held, 
none ever maintained that any should partake of 
the communion before they were baptized." 

Drs. Doddridge and Dwight, two eminent Con- 
gregational scholars, say: "It is certain, so far as 
133 



THIRTY YEARS ON THE FIRING-LINE 

our knowledge of antiquity extends, that no un- 
baptized person received the Lord's Supper." 

This does not mean that those who do commune 
should assume responsibility and set themselves to 
judge and exclude the unbaptized; but if an un- 
baptized person should eat and drink, it would not 
be a true communion, that is all. 

You should not refuse to commune because some 
other person is doing so whom you judge to be 
unworthy. When you partake, you are neither 
approving nor disapproving of others. In fact, 
you are not communing with them, but with the 
Lord. You examine yourself, and let others do the 
same. Don't think of , them; you think of Christ. 

How Frequently Should We Commune? 

We answer: Once a week, on the first day of 
the week. 

Luke says: "And upon the first day of the 
week, when the disciples came together to break 
bread, Paul preached to them" (Acts 20:7). 

The purpose of their meeting on that day was 
to "break bread." Paul's preaching was inci- 
dental. He had waited there for six days for the 
occasion of their coming together, that he might 
speak to them. He had arrived at Troas from Phi- 
lippi on Monday, and waited until the next Sunday 
(first day of the week) , when he preached to them, 
and continued his speech until after midnight, and 
until break of day, and then departed. 
134 



THE LORD'S SUPPER 



Adam Clark says: "Concerning the phrase 'to 
break bread,' intimating by this that they were 
accustomed to receive the holy sacrament on each 
Lord's Day." 

Dr. Scott (Presbyterian) says: "This ordinance 
seems to have been constantly administered every 
Lord's Day, and probably no professed Christians 
absented themselves from it after they had been 
admitted into the church." 

Dr. Mason (Presbyterian) says: "The Lord's 
Supper was observed by the first Christians every 
Lord's Day; nor will this be denied by any man 
who has candidly investigated the subject. . . . 
There is a cloud of witnesses to testify that they 
were kept up by succeeding Christians, with great 
care and tenderness, for above two centuries." 

Dr. Doddridge (Congregationalist) says: "It is 
well known that the primitive Christians adminis- 
tered the Eucharist every Lord's Day." 

Dr. J. M. Cramp (Baptist), Nova Scotia, says: 
"The death of our Saviour is specially commem- 
orated in the Lord's Supper, which, it is well 
known, was observed by the primitive churches 
every Lord's Day." 

Alexander Carson (Baptist) says: "There is 
an admirable wisdom in the appointment of Jesus 
in the observance of the Lord's Supper every first 
day of the week. Would it be any loss to them 
if all the churches of Christ were to return to this 
primitive practice?" 

135 



THIRTY YEARS ON THE FIRING-LINE 

I will next quote from John Wesley. In his 
"Letter to America,' ' 1784, he says: "I also advise 
the elders to administer the supper of the Lord 
every Lord's Day. With respect to this or any 
other command, he that, when he may obey it if 
he will, does not, will have no place in the king- 
dom of heaven." 

If I had spoken thus, some might have taken 
offense. But John Calvin is even more harsh 
respecting the neglect of this ordinance. John 
Calvin says: "And truly this custom, which en- 
joins communing once a year, is a most evident 
contrivance of the devil, by whose instrumentality 
soever it may have been determined. ... It ought 
to have been far otherwise. Every week, at least, 
the table of the Lord should have been spread, 
and the promises declared, by which, in partaking 
of it, we might be spiritually fed." 

R. A. Torrey (president Moody Bible Institute, 
Chicago), in a personal letter to B. B. Tyler, of 
Denver, Colorado, January 31, 1899, says: "It is 
true that I personally believe that the Lord's 
Supper ought to be partaken of every Lord's Day, 
and have said so in the church, and presume have 
said so in the lecture-room." 

So far as I know, there is not a dissenting 
voice to the above testimony. If there is a scholar, 
or church historian in the world who denies it, I 
do not know it. Do you know of any such 
denial? 

136 



THE LORD'S SUPPER 



In the growth of the Apostasy the Lord's 
Supper was changed to "the mass," and multiplied, 
in its observance, from once a week to many times 
a week, and hundreds of times in a year, instead 
of fifty-two times in the year. 

The Protestant Reformation swung to the oppo- 
site extremity, and observed it once a month, once 
in three months, once in six months, once a year, 
or discarded it altogether, as in some churches. 

Why not return to the primitive, apostolic 
practice of once on every first day of the week? 
It is a commemorative institution, and once a 
w r eek is not too often to "do this in remembrance 
of me." 

The following adaptation of "The Prodigal 
Son" will illustrate the purpose and value of the 
Lord's Supper. 

You may have belonged to one of the good 
old-fashioned families where there were from six 
to sixteen in the family, before the days of tele- 
phones, telegraph, railroads and automobiles. Fami- 
lies did not become scattered then as now, but, 
marrying, would settle down close to the "old 
folks," and reunions were frequent and happy. 
Sunday was the day when, after going to church, 
all . would meet at the old home for dinner and 
a visit together. This continues for many years, 
while father and mother grow old, and failing 
health and infirmity mark the approaching end. 
Then a serious illness and the sad message comes: 
137 



THIRTY YEARS ON THE FIRING-LINE 

' 'Father is dead." The family and friends all 
gather to show their love and respect for the dear 
old father, friend and neighbor. His body is laid 
tenderly to rest in the family lot of the little 
churchyard not far away, and all return sorrow- 
fully to their homes. The next Sunday comes, and 
all gather at the ''old home," for mother is still 
there. Poor, lonely, heart-broken, mourning 
mother! Silence prevails; sadness reigns. Before 
the return home that day, they all visit the church, 
and gather around the new-made grave, and the 
fountain of tears is opened again. They are re- 
membering father — his love, his sacrifice; how he 
bared his arm to toil, his breast to danger for them 
— his children. This is repeated every Sunday, 
as a few more years pass swiftly by. Then comes 
the saddest news that earth can bring: "31 other 
is dead." Dear, sweet, patient, loving mother is 
gone! Her body is laid by the side of father, and 
the next Sunday comes. But the family does not 
gather at the "old home." Ah! it is home no 
more. Mother is not there. As long as mother 
lives, that place where her love is, is home; but 
when she is gone, it is home no longer. Her death 
breaks up that home forever. How many have 
felt this truth ! The best that can be done now 
is to go to her grave and weep there. Accordingly, 
they all meet at her grave and stand about, sob- 
bing out the grief of their bereaved hearts. But 
look! Some one is approaching. Who is it? It 

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THE LORD'S SUPPER 



is "Bill." Who is Bill? Bill is the prodigal son. 
He is the "black sheep" of the family. He was 
not at home when mother died, and no one knew 
or cared where he was. But he has heard that 
his mother is dead, and is going to her grave. One 
of his sisters says: "Oh, John, don't let him come 
here. He broke poor mother's heart, and he has 
disgraced us all. Don't let him come." But 
sister Mary says : ' ' Oh, let him come, let him come ! 
Mother loved him. I heard her praying for her 
'poor, wandering Willie' just before she passed 
away. Let him come. It will not hurt mother, 
and may do him good." He comes; they give 
place, and poor Bill throws himself down on the 
grave of his mother, and who can describe the 
bitterness of his wail? "Oh, mother! my mother! 
The only friend I had in all the world, and you 
are gone! Oh, what will I do? No one that cares 
for me now!" Sister Mary bends over him and 
tells him that Jesus loves him, and that mother 
has gone to be with Jesus. The poor boy rises, 
and vows that, by the help of mother's God, her 
prayers shall yet be answered; and he goes forth 
to begin the struggle for a better life. Would you 
drive that boy from his mother's grave? Her 
love invites him to come. No one wants to be for- 
gotten by those whom he loves. 

Jesus loves us, and wants us to remember Him. 
We can not visit His grave. He knew that He 
would rise and go to His Father. But He left this 
139 



THIRTY YEARS ON THE FIRING-LINE 

memorial of His body and His blood, and we can 
gather about this table, as children at the grave 
of their mother, and remember His love, His sacri- 
fice, His service, and, with penitential tears, renew 
our vows of faithfulness. Oh, blessed Saviour, help 
us to remember Thee! Once a week is not too 
often. You would not think it too often for a 
wayward boy to visit the grave of his departed 
mother — not if it were your boy. 

We do not commune because we are good, but 
in remembrance of One who is good; that we may 
become more like Him, whose love led Him to die 
for us. "For as often as ye eat this bread, and 
drink this cup, ye do show [proclaim — R. V.] the 
Lord's death till he come" (1 Cor, 11:26). 



140 



OPPORTUNITY 



XIII 

OPPORTUNITY 

Text. — "As we have therefore opportunity, let us do 
good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the house- 
hold of faith."— Gal. 6: 10. 

CHRISTIANS are debtors to the whole world, 
but we have special obligations to those who 
constitute the family of God. I am expected to do 
good to my neighbor, but must do even more for 
my own family. 

We question the sincerity of the man who is 
more considerate of others than of his own family. 
So also of the Christian who is indifferent toward 
the church and its members. 

Opportunity is from opportune, meaning sea- 
sonable, timely, fit or becoming. Shakespeare 
says : ' ' There is a tide in the affairs of men, which, 
taken at the flood, leads on to fortune; omitted, 
all the voyage of their life is bound in shallows 
and in miseries' ' (" Julius Caesar," Act IV., 
Scene 3). 

All opportunity is for good, and all opportunity 
is for evil. There is no such thing as an exclusive 
141 



THIRTY YEARS ON THE FIRING-LINE 

opportunity for either good or evil. Like a silver 
dollar, every opportunity has two sides. When one 
is turned to you, the other is turned from you. 
The opportunity which is a blessing to one man 
may be a curse to another, just as a dollar may be 
a blessing to one and a curse to another, owing to 
the use made of it. 

Every day and every hour of life are crowded 
with opportunities. What use are you making of 
them? Do not wait for opportunity, like Wilkins 
Micawber, but take a flying leap and mount this 
Pegasus as he flies past; he never stops and he 
never returns. 

"The opportunity of a lifetime must be seized 
during the lifetime of the opportunity." Oliver 
Cromwell said it was not only his business to 
strike while the iron was hot, but to make the iron 
hot by striking it! 

We have opportunities to be true to ourselves. 
The person who is not true to himself can not be 
trusted with the welfare of others. "To thyself 
be true, and it must follow as the night the day, 
thou canst not then be false to any man." An 
old Scotch proverb says: "Be a frind to yersil, 
and ithers will." A young man who does not care 
enough for himself and his family to behave him- 
self, and honor his name, can not be trusted with 
the affairs of others. He will never be truer to 
others than to himself or to his own family. Young 
women should never marry men of bad morals 
142 



OPPORTUNITY 



and reputation, with the idea that they can then 
reform such men. A man of this character will 
never be more considerate of you and your good 
name than he has been of that of his own family. 
The man who will rob himself will rob you, if he 
has the chance. 

We have opportunity to correct our bad habits. 
These, like Dante's she-wolf, lean and lank, gaunt 
and hungry, stand in the path before you, and 
challenge your progress. Face them with the cour- 
age of a man ; they will cower and slink away, and 
you can pass on to the goal. 

Demosthenes, the greatest orator the world has 
ever known, had four bad habits of delivery which 
made his speech so ridiculous that he was laughed 
to scorn. Rawlinson, in his ''Ancient History," 
tells us that Demosthenes stuttered, had weakness 
of voice, shortness of breath, and constantly 
shrugged his shoulders, as if pumping out his 
words. He was humiliated by his failure, but not 
discouraged. He at once began the task of over- 
coming these bad habits. He declaimed with peb- 
bles in his mouth, and overcame his stammering; 
with a sword (or thorn-bush) suspended above his 
shoulder, he overcame the shrugging; then on the 
seashore to strengthen the voice until he could be 
heard above the roar of the storm; then as he ran 
up-hill, until the breath control was gained. Again 
he appears before the populace with the same mes- 
sage as before, and now they listen. Demosthenes 
143 



THIRTY YEARS ON THE FIRING-LINE 

is master of the world! Because Demosthenes is 
Master of Himself! 

We have opportunity to repair any wrongs we 
have done to others. Do not worry about what 
others have done to you, let them worry over that ; 
you will not have to answer for that. You repent 
of, and make restitution for your own wrong- 
doing, and do so now. Two newsboys in St. Louis 
were having a "scrap," and one of them was run 
over by a heavy truck, and fatally injured. He 
was taken to the old city hospital. The next day 
an urchin was seen loitering about the entrance, 
when an attendant asked him what he wanted. He 
said he wanted to see ' ' Billy. ' ' " Who is ' Billy ' V ' 
"He's the kid that was run down by the truck 
yesterday on Pine Street." He would not give 
his name or tell where he lived. He doubtless 
feared that in some way he was to blame for the 
accident, and the injury to his little friend. He 
was not permitted to go in, but he took an apple 
from his pocket and told them to give it to Billy. 
The next day he returned with similar results. 
He gave an orange, asking that it be given to 
Billy. The third day he returned, and, as no one 
else had called, or made any inquiry, they told 
the boy that he might come in and see his little 
friend ; that the doctors had said that he could not 
get well, he was so badly hurt. When he reached 
the ward to which the injured lad had been taken 
he looked around until he saw the cot on which 
144 



OPPORTUNITY 



he lay, and, going to it, he burst into tears and 
said: "Oh, Billy, I want ye to fergiv' me. I want 
ye to fergiv' me 'fore it's too late. The doc says 
ye can't git well, and I'm so sorry fer scrappin' 
with ye." The other replied: "Don't cry. I was 
to blame as much as you. I fergiv' ye. Don't cry. 
I ain't afraid to die. I ain't got anybody to care 
fer me; no father, no mother, nor nobody. My 
mother's dead, and pa don't care about me. Nurse 
told me about heaven last night, and how nice it 
is there, and I want to go there. I prayed last 
night too. Did you ever pray? I prayed for me 
and I prayed for you, too, 'cause you ain't got 
anybody either. Don't cry — don't — cry." And 
thus they talked until the brief visit ended. 

The next day the little boy was dead. His 
sorrowing friend was permitted to ride on the 
dead-wagon that took the body to the potter's field. 
He stood by until the grave was filled, and threw 
himself down upon it, and said: "Oh, Billy, I'm 
so glad you fergiv' me 'fore ye died." 

The reporter who gave this story to the press 
closed with this sentence: "If, under the crust of 
vice and poverty, there are such streams of pure 
nobility as this, who of us should weary in doing 
good?" 

"A diamond in the rough 
Is a diamond sure enough, 
For before it ever sparkles 
It is made of diamond stuff. 
10 145 



THIRTY YEARS ON THE FIRING-LINE 

"Of course some one must find it, 
Or it never will be found; 
And some one else must grind it, 
Or it never will be ground. 

"But when it's found, and when it's ground, 
And when it's burnished bright, 
That diamond everlastingly- 
Just sparkles out its light." 

One of my best-remembered Sunday-school 
teachers was an elder of the church, and he 
understood boys. I was about twelve years of age. 
Lesson leaves were not in use in those days, so 
we just read out of the New Testament. We were 
reading the tenth chapter of Matthew, and one of 
the boys, having laboriously read the last verse, 
"And whosoever shall give to drink unto one of 
these little ones a cup of cold water only, in the 
name of a disciple, verily I say unto you he 
shall in no wise lose his reward," our teacher 
took off his glasses, and said: "Boys, I am going 
to tell you a story of the war, which has to do 
with this verse of Scripture. " And he told the 
following, which I have never forgotten. 

"I had a brother who was a Union soldier away 
down in Dixie. Our boys were camped near a big 
Southern mansion on a Southern cotton plantation. 
Only the women and a few negroes were left about 
the place, and the soldiers would slip through the 
lines at night and steal eggs and chickens, and 
milk the cows, etc., much to the annoyance of these 
146 



OPPORTUNITY 



women. One of these women came to the camp 
and complained, to the commander, of such treat- 
ment, and a guard was placed about the premises. 
My brother was sent to patrol the lawn in front 
of the big house. He was not feeling well, and 
when one of the women came out on the veranda 
he asked her if she would be kind enough to give 
him a drink of cold water. She replied: 'No, I'll 
not bring you any water. You Yankees come down 
here and take everything we've got, and want to 
free our niggers, and then want us to be niggers 
for you! I'll do nothing of the kind." My 
brother, in reply to her abuse, just quoted this 
verse of Scripture. She stood still until he had 
finished it, and then said: 'Are you a disciple?' 
He said: 'I am.' The woman went back into the 
house and presently returned with a pitcher of 
cold water, and said: 'Oh, brother, forgive me. 
I, too, am a disciple, a member of the Christian 
Church, and I know better than to act as I did, 
but we are so tried and hurt by this awful war, 
that we forget our religion, and our Saviour, too, 
at times.' My brother told her that he was ill, 
and she said that she would go to the camp and 
report his illness, and have him relieved. My 
brother protested, but she insisted, and went and 
reported, and then requested the privilege of taking 
my brother into the home and caring for him, 
inasmuch as they were members of the same church. 
Permission was granted, and those good Southern 
147 



THIRTY YEARS ON THE FIRING-LINE 

women nursed my brother for six weeks through 
a siege of typhoid fever.' ' 

Those were the first kind words I had ever heard 
spoken of Southern people. I had thought them 
inhuman monsters, both men and women. Dixie 
seemed so far away, and all Southern people so 
wicked and bad. But I know them now, and how 
I love them! No better people live on this earth 
than the people of the Southland. And, do you 
know, I think God knew that I would some day 
be a preacher and travel all over this great coun- 
try, and that he had that story planted in my mind 
and heart in order that, wherever I should preach 
"in the whole world, this should be spoken of as 
a memorial of her" (Mark 14:3-9). 

We, as Christians, have opportunity, when we 
sin or do wrong, to repent, and to forgive any 
who may have wronged us, and to pray then (and 
not till then) for our own forgiveness. "And when 
ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have aught against 
any: that your Father also which is in heaven 
may forgive your trespasses. But if ye do not 
forgive, neither will your Father which is in heaven 
forgive your trespasses" (Mark 11:25, 26). 
"And forgive us our debts [sins] as we forgive 
our debtors [*. e., those who sin against us]" 
(Matt. 6:12). 

We have opportunity, in our homes, of setting 
a good example. Some men admonish their boys 
to keep out of bad company, and when they are 
148 



OPPORTUNITY 



with their own fathers they are in the worst com- 
pany in town, for he smokes, drinks, chews, lies, 
swears and gambles. 

A little boy walking through deep snow, fol- 
lowing his father, fell down again and again. At 
last his father, picking him up, said: " What's 
the matter with you that you can't stand up?" 
"Why, papa, I was a-steppin' in your tracks." 
Comment is unnecessary. 

We should also teach the word of God in the 
family. The admonitions and suggestions of a 
father will be remembered in later years when the 
words of the preacher are forgotten. We should 
teach and suggest good things to boys and girls 
wherever we go. Gipsy Smith tells t)f his first visit 
to America, in 1889, when Ira D. Sankey took 
him for a long drive on Saturday before his first 
service. Smith asked Sankey if he remembered 
when he and Mr. Moody were in England, in their 
campaign at Burdett Koad Bow, that they were 
driven out to the gipsy camp in Epping Forest. 
"Yes, I remember it very well, and I remember 
meeting the Smith brothers, who were doing a 
good evangelistic work up and down your coun- 
try." "One of those brothers, Cornelius Smith, 
was. my father. Do you remember that some little 
gipsy boys stood on the wheel of the trap in which 
you were driving, and, leaning over, you put your 
hand on the head of one of them and said: 'The 
Lord make a preacher of you, my boy'?" "Yes," 
149 



THIRTY YEARS ON THE FIRING-LINE 

said Sankey, "I remember that too." "I am that 
boy." "Mr. Sankey 's joy knew no bounds" 
(Smith's "Autobiography," p. 169). 

You have opportunity to encourage others in 
the church, the Bible school, prayer-meeting, En- 
deavor society, missionary and aid societies, and 
last, but not least, the preacher. The poor man 
often needs it, when he is oppressed, discouraged, 
and heartsore with the care of the church, and the 
anxiety incident thereto. But no one comes to 
share the burden or even to tell him that he is 
praying for him, and that he appreciates his efforts 
and enjoys his sermons. Don't be afraid of spoil- 
ing your preacher with praise and deserved com- 
pliments. "W. H. Book says: "More preachers die 
of frostbite than of sunstroke!" 

I called one morning on a hard-working, con- 
scientious minister, the pastor of a large congrega- 
tion, and he invited me to go calling with him. 
It was a crisp October morning, and as we walked 
out, he said: "I am going to call this morning 
on some families who seldom go to church, but 
who have many excuses, and find fault with the 
church and preacher, and everybody else except 
themselves. ' ' 

"We came to the first place, turned in at the 
little gate, and knocked at the door. Great com- 
motion within — chairs knocked over, children 
rushed out the back way, and then the broom 
brought into vigorous action, while we stood and 
150 



i 



OPPORTUNITY 



knocked and waited. At last the door was opened, 
and we were invited into the stifling room. I was 
introduced, and we sat down. And that woman 
turned loose her ' ' machine-gun tongue" about as 
follows: "Well, I'm powerful glad to see you [lie, 
of course] ! It's so long since you called on us, I 
hardly knew you! Didn't you know I'd been 
sick, and pa's been sick, and the children's been 
sick too. And none of you ever come to us. We 
might all 'a' died and none of the church-members 
would 'a' cared, or ever knowed it. I don't see 
what's the good of the church, or what's the use 
of belongin' to it, nohow." 

The preacher tried to explain, and apologize 
for both the members and himself; said none of 
them knew of any illness in the family, etc. "No, 
that's it; you never know anything. If you'd 
come around a little oftener, you might find out 
something!" We departed, and her last shot ex- 
pressed the hope that they might not all be dead 
and buried before he got around again. 

We went on to the next place. We got in 
sooner, but we got into a worse place, for there 
were two women and a man there, and they all 
jumped onto the preacher and the church, and 
what one couldn't think of and say, the others did. 

We went on that way with but slight variation 

until noon, when we returned to his home and 

study. He sat down in his Morris chair, weary 

and exhausted. After a short silence, he said: 

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THIRTY YEARS ON THE FIRING-LINE 

"Well, Bro. Martin, what do you think of it?" 
14 Think?" I said. " That's all I've been doing all 
forenoon. I haven't had a chance to say anything. 
I don't think you know how to manage the kind 
of 'cattle' [sheep — and sheep are cattle] we've 
been calling on to-day." He said: "How would 
you manage them?" I replied: "I'd do it differ- 
ent; your way is a failure. Mine might fail too, 
but I wouldn't let that bunch run over me, and 
abuse me and the whole church, like you did. 
Now, take that first place, for example, where the 
children all rushed out the back way, and the 
woman swept the floor before she let us in. I 
would have knocked and then opened the door and 
rushed right in, and grabbed those youngsters 
when they started to run, and said: 'Hold on, 
children, bless your little hearts. I just came in to 
see what's the matter, that you don't come to 
Sunday school. And, sister, I haven't seen you 
or your husband at church or prayer-meeting for 
so long I can't remember. Why don't you come? 
Why don't you send these children to Sunday 
school? Have you been helping any of the poor 
around here? Have you been down to see that 
sick man in the next block, and poor old Sister 
Jones just around the corner? You claim to be 
a Christian — a church-member! Do you give 
thanks at the table, or have Bible reading and 
family prayer? Are you doing anything for the 
Lord, yourself, or anybody else?' I'd just pour 
152 



OPPORTUNITY 



in the questions so thick and fast, and so lay bare 
her hypocritical life, that she wouldn't get a 
chance to put a word in edgeways. I'd put her on 
the defensive, and then leave before she had a 
chance to make any reply; and, as I departed, I'd 
say: 'Now, children, I'm going to look for you at 
Sunday school to-morrow morning, and if you are 
not there, I'll be down here again early Monday 
morning to see what's the matter. Now, sister, 
you get busy! Good-by! God bless you' — and 
away I'd go, before she had a chance to get her 
breath. ' ' 

The preacher laughed, and asked: "Do you 
think that would straighten them out, and bring 
them to church and the children to Sunday 
school?" I replied, "No!" "Then, what next?" 
"Well, I'd do as I said. I'd go down there bright 
and early Monday morning, walk up and knock 
hard on the door, and open — ah! it's locked! and 
the blinds are drawn ! I 'd knock louder, and listen 
— they are in there, but they don't want me to 
know it. They would be like the old darky who 
used to pray every night, '0 Lord, send yo' angel, 
and take pore old Sam home; I'se ready, Lord; 
send yo' angel.' One night some one knocked on 
his door just as he made that prayer. 'Who's 
dat?' 'It's the angel of the Lord, come to take 
Sam to heaven.' He jumped into bed, covered 
up his head, and said: 'Go 'long, angel; dat nigger 
done moved away from here long 'go.' " 
153 



THIRTY YEARS ON THE FIRING-LINE 

Don't find fault with the preacher. You don't 
honor yourself nor help him. If you appreciate 
his service and sermons, say so, and even when you 
do not enjoy it, the trouble may be with yourself. 
Appetite has much to do with the enjoyment of 
the feast. 

When your heart is breaking, and the sad days 
come, and the funeral train moves on, you don't 
send for the dancing, card-playing, theater-going, 
godless bunch. You send for the preacher then. 
You spend your time and money with the devil's 
crowd, but you want the preacher to come and 
share your grief and sorrow. 

It is a sin to neglect our opportunities. They 
do not last long, and seldom return, except to 
mock us. 

The greatest of all opportunities is that of 
accepting the salvation offered us in Christ Jesus. 
"What shall it profit a man if he gain the whole 
world, and lose his own soul ? ' ' Accept now. ' ' Be- 
hold, now is the day of salvation" (2 Cor. 6:2). 
"How shall we escape if we neglect so great sal- 
vation !" (Heb. 2:3). 



154 



OPPORTUNITY 



XIV 

MARRIAGE AND DIVORCE 

Text. — "What therefore God hath joined together, let not 
man put asunder. ' ' — Mark 10 : 9. 

MARRIAGE, legally defined, is the union of a 
man and a woman in the relation of husband 
and wife, including both the act, or ceremony, 
which creates the union, and the union itself, 
as the resulting state. 

It is a contract, but Judge Story says: "It is 
more than a contract; it is an institution founded 
upon the consent and contract of the parties, and 
has peculiarities in its nature, character and opera- 
tion, different from what belongs to ordinary con- 
tracts. ' ' 

As love should always accompany marriage, 
and never forsake that relationship, a prelude on 
love may well introduce the subject. 

Emerson says: "Cupid is a Casuist, a Mystic 
and a Cabalist." 

Love — who can define it? Not I. And yet 
I say, it is the motor of earth and of heaven ; the 
greatest, the best, the most enduring thing in the 
155 



THIRTY YEARS ON THE FIRING-LINE 

universe. ''God is love." "And now abideth 
faith, hope, love; and the greatest of these is love." 
"Everybody loves a lover." 

There are many kinds of love, each taking its 
name and deriving its quality from the person or 
thing loved; as, mother love, parental love, filial 
love, love of country, love of home, love of good, 
love of sin, love of nature, love of music, love of 
beauty, love of life, and the love of the boy and 
the girl, the man and the woman, for each other, 
forming the basis and supplying the inspiration 
of true marriage and happy homes. 

Sexuality is the basis of the love that "rings 
the wedding-bells" and "builds the home"; while 
sensuality gets married, and then furnishes the 
eternal grist for the divorce mill, with its blasted 
hopes and ruined homes. 

Courtship is a season of ecstatic delight, and 
ofttimes of painful anxiety, which should end 
(neither too soon nor too late) in the selection 
of a suitable life companion. 

"Love at first sight," with hasty marriage, is, 
almost without exception, disastrous. "A happy- 
go-lucky marriage is seldom lucky enough to be 
happy" (John E. Pounds). I once heard of a man 
who courted a lady for twenty years, and when 
asked why he did not marry her, replied: "Where 
would I then spend my evenings?" 

The selection of a husband or wife may deter- 
mine whether you are to have two heavens or 
156 



MARRIAGE AND DIVORCE 

two hells — heaven here and hereafter, or hell now 
and forever. 

You should seek and take all the good advice 
you can get before marriage. Love makes fools 
of most people. We have very little sense or judg- 
ment when in love. I have been offering, for 
twenty-five years, to exchange photographs with 
any person who had never acted the fool when in 
love. Not one exchange has yet been made! 

We can not tarry at the wedding, with its many 
pleasant and amusing accompaniments, which is 
usually an occasion of considerable embarrassment 
to the principals, and sometimes to the officiating 
minister. 

A very dear friend of mine, when called upon 
to solemnize his first marriage, carefully prepared 
what he thought would prove an impressive cere- 
mony. He memorized it thoroughly, but when the 
critical moment came he forgot it and broke down 
completely. A painful silence ensued, which he 
finally broke by saying: "By the authority of God 
Almighty, I pronounce you man and woman! The 
friends will now come up and view the remains." 

Consent is the essence of valid marriage ; hence 
persons who have not legal control of themselves 
can- not marry — that is, idiots, insane persons and 
minor children — without the consent of parent or 
guardian. 

We have void and voidable marriages. Void 
marriages do not require a formal divorce to set 
157 



THIRTY YEARS ON THE FIRING-LINE 

them aside, such as bigamy, polygamy, or marriage 
within the forbidden limits of blood relationship. 
A proof of these proves no marriage could exist. 
At the same time, minority, insanity, idiocy, impo- 
tency or fraud renders the marriage voidable. A 
voidable marriage is valid unless it is pronounced 
void by a court of competent jurisdiction. 

Just here you may discover a very simple and 
quiet way of securing a divorce: Apply for it on 
the ground of insanity or idiocy, and when the 
case is called, present yourself as prima-facie evi- 
dence of the allegation. "At first view" the judge 
will see that no sane person would have married 
you. The decree will be granted! 

Marriage forms the basis of all good society, 
pure homes and honorable parentage. Promiscuity 
("free love") curses society, destroys home and 
dishonors posterity. "The strength of a nation 
depends upon the morality of its people." 

Who May Marry? 

The following persons may marry; it is not 
compulsory : 

1. Those who have never been married, and have 
no legal disqualifications. 

2. Those who have been married once, or 
oftener, but whose companion is dead. But if you 
are a Christian, you should marry no one who is 
not also a Christian. "The wife is bound by the 
law as long as her husband liveth ; but if her hus- 

158 



MARRIAGE AND DIVORCE 

band be dead, she is at liberty to be married to 
whom she will; only in the Lord" (1 Cor. 7:39). 
Paul said he spoke this by permission of the Lord. 
You can readily see the wisdom of such advice. 
If you are a Christian widow, with or without 
orphan children, you will run less risk in marrying 
a good, Christian man, than in marrying a heathen, 
or an infidel. The same is true if you are a 
Christian widower. A Christian wife and step- 
mother to your motherless little ones is a con- 
sideration that should never be disregarded in 
second marriages, for no one needs the grace of 
God more than a second wife and a stepmother. 

3. The Christian man or woman who is de- 
serted by an unbelieving wife or husband. "But 
if the unbelieving depart, let him depart. A 
brother or a sister is not under bondage in such 
cases" (1 Cor. 7:15). 

4. The innocent party in divorce, for the one 
cause of adultery, or fornication. The guilty party 
has no Scriptural right to marry again, and if both 
were guilty, neither one can marry again without 
adultery. "And I say unto you, Whosoever shall 
put away his wife, except it be for fornication, 
and shall marry another, committeth adultery: and 
whoso marrieth her which is put away doth commit 
adultery" (Matt. 19:9). You see, God does not 
put a premium on sin. 

Divorce is the dissolution of the marriage re- 
lation for due cause shown. There were four hun- 
159 



THIRTY YEARS ON THE FIRING-LINE 

dred thousand legal divorces last year, but not 
many of these were Scriptural. I believe most of 
these should have taken the form of "legal sepa- 
rations," without the right or privilege of remar- 
riage. This would break up the vicious home 
atmosphere and save the children from its con- 
taminating influence, as well as prevent others 
being born into such unhappy homes. 

Causes of Divorce. 

1. Matching without mating. 

"Who weds for love alone may not be wise; 
Who weds without it, angels must despise." 

— Ella Wheeler Wilcox. 

2. Girls should not marry old men for money, 
or just to get a home. A girl in her teens or 
twenties, who marries a man in his sixties or seven- 
ties, is a willing victim of the white-slave traffic. 
The old man who marries a young girl is a fool. 

No young girl will marry an old man unless 
he has money. She has but one ambition, and 
that is to become his widow — as soon as possible! 
But she will be disappointed, for these old fools 
never die. 

3. You rich American girls should not marry 
"titled renegades" from "across the waters." 
These foreign dukes, barons, counts and viscounts 
are all "no accounts"! Don't you know that 
all of them who are at all worth marrying are 

160 



MARRIAGE AND DIVORCE 

"gobbled up" by the eligible "ladies of rank" 
in their own countries? Yon never have a chance 
at anything but the "culls." The only title worth 
wearing is the one you win, not the one you marry 
or buy. 

William Jennings Bryan says: "And let me 
say right here, too, to any American girl who 
thinks of getting a foreign title, that one American 
boy, of good health, education and high morals, 
is far better than all the remnants of European 
aristocracy she could buy with all her millions." 

I think these American lads will take you in 
spite of your wealth, and love you for yourself 
alone. 

4. A most fruitful source of divorce is "diso- 
bedient, wives" and "unloving husbands.' ' "Wives, 
submit yourselves unto your own husbands, as 
unto the Lord. For the husband is the head of 
the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: 
and he is the saviour of the body. Therefore, as 
the church is subject unto Christ, so let the wives 
be to their own husbands in everything" (Eph. 
5:22-24). "Wives, submit yourselves unto your 
own husbands, as it is fit in the Lord" (Col. 3: 18). 

No woman should marry a man whom she is 
unwilling to obey, just as no one should assume 
the name "Christian" unless he obeys Christ. 
"Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also 
loved the church, and gave himself for it; . . . 
So ought men to love their wives as their own 
« 161 



THIRTY YEARS ON THE FIRING-LINE 

bodies. He that loveth his wife loveth himself. . . . 
For this cause shall a man leave his father and 
mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and 
they two shall be one flesh" (Eph. 5:25-31). 
" Husbands, love your wives, and never treat them 
harshly' ' (Col. 3:19). (Quoted from "Twentieth 
Century New Testament.") 

5. Too great haste in contracting marriage is 
another cause for divorce. I heard of an under- 
taker who proposed marriage to the widow on 
the way home from the funeral of her husband. 
She said: "No, 1 can't marry you." He insisted, 
when she replied: "No, no, I can not marry you; 
I am already engaged to the man who sat up with 
the corpse." 

You should marry. I have no patience with 
selfish, cowardly old bachelors. They are often 
nuisances and sources of demoralization. They 
ought to be taxed to support old maids and orphan 
children. 

There are, however, two classes of men whom 
I excuse from marriage: First, the elder brother 
who denies himself the privilege of marriage in 
order to help his mother rear and care for the 
family of little ones left orphans by the death 
or desertion of the father. Such a boy is a, hero. 

I also excuse the man who has tried his best 
to get married, and no woman would have him! 

The same reasons apply in the case of old 
maids. 

162 



MARRIAGE AND DIVORCE 

Is Marriage a Failure? 

In many cases it is a failure, but as an insti- 
tution it is not, as no substitute for it has ever 
been a success. 

Marriage is a disappointment to many, perhaps 
to most, people. I know it was to me. I was 
expecting too much. I am now going to make a 
shocking statement: If I had known my wife as 
well before I married her, as afterwards, I never 
would have married her. I first made that state- 
ment in San Francisco, before six hundred people, 
and in the presence of my wife. How do you 
suppose I squared myself with that crowd — and 
with Mary? Why, by telling more truth. You 
see, when I started out to find a wife, I was looking 
for a perfect woman. Nothing else would do for 
me. I met, and fell in love with, first one and 
then another, finding imperfections in each one. 
One after the other I would drop them, to find 
another and another, each and all imperfect. This 
finding and dropping went on for several years, 
though I will confess that I did not do all the 
dropping. I got dropped several times myself — 
doubtless by young women who were looking for 
a perfect "husband. 

At last I found Mary, who succeeded in dis- 
guising and hiding her defects so completely that 
after two years' courtship we were married. I 
soon found out how deceitful girls (and boys) 
163 



THIRTY YEARS ON THE FIRING-LINE 

can be. I did not express my disappointment; it 
wonld have been unwise and unsafe to do so. I 
did not find the joy and happiness I had antici- 
pated. Why? I can answer now: I was looking 
for a perfect woman, an ideal wife. I got the 
real one; don't you doubt it. I am forty-three 
years older now, and I have learned that there are 
no perfect women, no ideal wives, and I now 
declare that I would not exchange Mary for any 
other woman on earth, whom I have ever seen or 
ever expect to see. She, the mother of my children 
— Nina, Lela and Minnie; she, who has shared my 
joys and my sorrows, my laughter and my tears, 
for more than forty years! I love her more than 
tongue can tell. 

Don't look for perfect men and women; there 
are none on earth. Sam Jones once said: " There 
are no perfect men; you are not a perfect man; 
you never saw a perfect man; you never heard 
of a perfect man except Jesus Christ. There are 
no perfect women. You are not a perfect woman, 
and you never saw, or heard of, a perfect woman. 
If you ever did, stand up." A long, lean, lank, 
sallow woman rose to her feet, (It was in Texas.) 
The great audience looked at her and roared. 
Jones himself leaned on the pulpit and smiled. 
The woman stood still. Jones said: " Madam, do 
you mean to tell this audience that you are a 
perfect woman ? ' ' She replied, in a shrill, but sad, 
voice: "No, sir, I'm not a perfect woman." 
164 



MARRIAGE AND DIVORCE 

"Well, did you ever see a perfect woman V "No, 
sir, I never saw a perfect woman.' ' "Well, did 
you ever hear of a perfect woman ?" "Yes, sir, 
/ heard of one." "Well, who was it?" She 
answered: "My husband's first wife!" 

Spurgeon says: "A good husband makes a good 
wife. [My wife has improved greatly since I got 
her.] Some men can neither do with, nor without, 
wives — like Tompkins' dog, which could not bear 
to be loose, and howled when he was tied up. 
If you catch a tartar, you must take your dose of 
tartaric acid." 

Some men have had wives from whom they 
might have been Scripturally and legally divorced, 
but for the sake of the wife herself, or the chil- 
dren, and to prevent disgrace and disaster to the 
family, they have borne with them, forgiven and 
protected them. This is still more often the case 
with wives, who could easily have secured divorces 
from unfaithful husbands, but who thought it 
"better to bear the ills they have, than fly to others 
they know not of." I think such a course is oft- 
times wisest, thoroughly Christian, and best, and 
I most heartily recommend it. 

Some women can forgive all men except their 
own husbands, and some men can pardon all 
women except an erring wife, sister or daughter. 
In God's name, if you can not shelter, forgive and 
protect your own fallen wife, who do you expect 
will do so? Do you expect the world to be more 
165 



THIRTY YEARS ON THE FIRING-LINE 

charitable than her own husband, brother or 
father ? I shall never call upon strangers to extend 
the help which I refuse to give to a sinner in my 
own house. I do not condone sin, but my own 
family has the first claim on my heart and hand, 
and I have no charity for others until my own 
folks have all the love they need. Thus, let charity 
begin at home, and it will not end there either. 
Love must protect and preserve the home. 

There are "skeletons in the closet" in many 
homes, and they should be kept there, and the 
door forever locked and barred. If you open 
that door, you disgrace and injure those whom 
love and duty require you to protect. 

"The kindest and the happiest pair 
Will iind occasion to forbear; 
And something every day they live 
To pity, and, perhaps, forgive.' ' 

— Coivper. 

"The more we know, the better we forgive; 
Whoe'er feels deeply, feels for all who live." 

— Madame de Stael. 

"Good nature and good sense must ever join; 
To err is human— to forgive, divine." 

— Alexander Pope. 

Theodore Roosevelt, in his message to Con- 
gress in December, 1906, said : ' ' The whole question 
of marriage and divorce should be relegated to 
the authority of the National Congress. There is 
166 



MARRIAGE AND DIVORCE 

nothing so vitally essential to the welfare of the 
nation as the home of the average citizen.' ' 

The National Congress of Uniform Divorce 
agreed on a bill to submit to State Legislatures, 
granting divorce for six causes; namely, infidelity 
to marriage vows; felony; bigamy; desertion; 
habitual drunkenness, and intolerable cruelty. 

Most of these should take the form of Judicial 
Separations, in which remarriage is forbidden in 
the decree itself; but always leaving room for 
reconciliation according to 1 Cor. 7:10, 11: "And 
unto the married I command, yet not I, but the 
Lord, Let not the wife depart from her husband. 
But and if she depart, let her remain unmarried, 
or be reconciled to her husband: and let not the 
husband put away his wife." 

The following beautiful poem was written, at 
aiy request, in December, 1917, by Meade E. Dutt, 
of Tulsa, Okla., for use just here: 

TO AN " IDEAL PAIR." 

Oh, traveler down Life's long and misty lane, 
I pray thee note that chiefest monument — 
The first of all by God erected — Home. 
It is a portion of that blessed realm 
Where He and all angelic spirits dwell. 
No selfish one can build it — only two 
• Who in life's bright mid-morn 
Have made the great discovery — 
Have felt the master bond 
That bindeth heart to heart and life to life 
For all eternity; and twain one flesh became. 
167 



MARRIAGE AND DIVORCE 

Home! home! It is God's miracle, 

His crucible, and yet Love's rose-bower bright; 

And into it is poured the mystery 

Of Life 's unfolding : She for him, and he for her. 

Oh, marvelous other-touch! Oh, eye love-lit! 

Whose holy fire has never failed 

To lighten, symbolize and glorify 

The dwelling-place of God in human flesh. 

Hail! hail! Thou aged pair whom Love divine 

Hath blest and kept until earth's flaming west 

Is heaven's east, and day advances swift, 

To bid thee pass yon golden portal, where 

The King is Love, and hearts shall never change. 






168 



CHRISTIAN SCIENCE A FRAUD 



XV 

CHRISTIAN SCIENCE A FRAUD, AND MRS. 
EDDY AN "ANTICHRIST" 

IN 1866, Mrs. Mary A. Morse Baker Glover Pat- 
terson Eddy claimed to have discovered and 
founded Christian Science. The title is thus carved 
on her $2,000,000 "Mother Church" in Boston— 
"The Discoverer and Founder of Christian 
Science." 

"Christian Science" calls itself "the under- 
standing of God," which is the exact meaning of 
the Greek word theosophy, nor is this the only- 
thing which Mrs. Eddy got from "Madam Bla- 
vatsky, " for which she failed to give due credit. 
Mrs. Eddy claims that her book, "Science and 
Health," contains a new revelation given to her by 
God. She says: "No human pen or tongue taught 
me the science contained in this book" ("Science 
and Health," p. 126, line 30). [Enter ghost of 
Phinehas Parkhurst Quimby, followed by that of 
Madam Blavatsky and Colonel Olcott, accompanied 
by groans from Anna Besant and Catharine Ting- 
ley!] 

169 



THIRTY YEARS ON THE FIRING-LINE 

Mrs. Eddy adds that "the Bible has been my 
only authority. " "I have had no other guide in 
the straight and narrow way of truth." If the 
Bible was her only guide, how could it have been 
a "new revelation," God-given in 1866? In the 
Arena of May, 1899 (pp. 556, 557), you will find 
the proof that she got it from Dr. Phinehas Park- 
hurst Quimby, of Portland, Maine, about four 
years before 1866, but as Quimby did not die until 
January 16, 1866, it was not safe to announce her 
"great discovery" previous to that date. 

No exemption from criticism can justly be 
claimed for Mrs. Eddy on the ground that she 
was a woman, or because she is now dead. Georgine 
Milne, who wrote the series of articles on "Chris- 
tian Science" in McClure's Magazine in 1907, when 
criticized for writing only the bad things about 
Mrs. Eddy, and asked why she had not incorporated 
such good things as might be said of her, answered 
that she had searched the whole of Mrs. Eddy's 
life for a kindly, generous, unselfish, womanly deed, 
but had not found one — not one such act in the 
long life of more than fourscore years. Her own 
father (Mark Baker) said: "Mary Magdalene had 
seven devils, but my Mary has seventy." Freder> 
ick W. Peabody, of the Boston bar, who knows 
more about Mrs. Eddy than any other living 
person, calls her "The Queen op Frauds and 
Hypocrites" ("Religio-Medical Masquerade," p. 
22). Mark Twain says: "Making fun of that 
170 



CHRISTIAN SCIENCE A FRAUD 

shameless old swindler, Mother Eddy, is the only 
thing about it I take any interest in. At bottom 
I suppose I take a private delight in seeing the 
human race making an ass of itself again, which it 
has always done whenever it had a chance. That's 
its affair; it has the right, and it will sweat blood 
for it centuries hence. See them get down and 
worship that old creature. A century hence they 
will all be at it. Sanity in the human race! This 
is really fulsome.' ' 

Mrs. Eddy claims to be the chosen successor 
to, and equal or superior of, Jesus Christ. In 
the earlier days she placed her mission above His. 
She said that the idea God gave her was " higher, 
clearer, and more permanent" than that given to 
Jesus. She even points out His shortcomings and 
limitations. She says: "Our Master healed the 
sick, practiced Christian healing, and taught the 
generalities of this divine principle to His students, 
but He left no definite word for demonstrating His 
principle of healing," and "had wisdom charac- 
terized all His sayings, He would not have prophe- 
sied His own death and thereby hastened or caused 
it." Of herself she says: "The works I have writ- 
ten on Christian Science contain absolute truth." 
What blasphemous presumption! 

In the Christian Science Journal, April, 1889, 
Mrs. Eddy has distinctly authorized the claim in 
her behalf, that she herself was the chosen suc- 
cessor to, and equal of, Jesus Christ. She pro- 
171 



THIRTY YEARS ON THE FIRING-LINE 

mulgated four "Reversible Propositions"; viz., 
"God is all;" "God is good, God is mind;" "God 
is Spirit, being all, nothing is matter;" "Life, God, 
omnipotent Goad, deny death, evil, sin, disease." 
Because these make the same sense ( ?) when read 
backwards as forward, she assumes she has proven 
their truthfulness, which is about as near as she 
ever came to proving anything. She says: "I was 
a scribe under orders, and who can refrain from 
transcribing what God indites ?" Lo! a female 
popess! Infallibility in Boston, in 1866! and she 
beat the Pope of Rome to it by four years. He 
claims to be vicegerent (substitute) for the Son of 
God, but Mrs. Eddy blasphemously claims superior- 
ity to Jesus Christ. The same thing and more of 
it! (Papal infallibility was decreed by the Vatican 
Council in 1870.) 

Mrs. Eddy was once a Spiritualist medium, and 
gave seances for money; president of a bogus med- 
ical college ; an unnatural, unfeeling mother who 
abandoned her only son, Geo. W. Glover, who is 
now seventy-three years old, and can not read and 
write. Her own father said she acted "just like 
an old ewe-sheep that would not own its lamb." 
Yet, this is the woman, praised, adored and thanked 
by more than a million dupes for the blasphemous 
deception she has practiced upon them. Her book 
called "Science and Health, with Key to the Scrip- 
tures," is a plagiarized fake revelation, based upon 
writings of Dr. P. P. Quimby; this has been abun- 
172 



CHRISTIAN SCIENCE A FRAUD 

dantly proven again and again. She became a 
patient of Dr. Quimby in October, 1862. She wrote 
a poem (?) on the death of Dr. Quimby in 1866, 
and called it " Lines on the Death of Dr. Quimby, 
Who Healed the Sick as Did Jesus, in Contradis- 
tinction to All 'Isms'." A copy of the poem, in 
Mrs. Eddy's own handwriting, is now in possession 
of Mrs. Sarah Crosby, Waterville, Maine. The last 
two lines read thus: 

' ' Rest should reward him [Quimby] who hath made us whole, 
Seeking, tho' tremblers, where his footsteps trod." 

Three weeks after she went to Dr. Quimby in 
1862, she wrote and published, in the Portland 
Evening Courier of November 7, the following: 
"Am improving ad infinitum. This truth which 
he opposes to the error of giving intelligence to 
matter, and placing pain where it never placed 
itself, if received understandingly, changes the cur- 
rents of the system to their normal action, and the 
mechanism of the body goes on undisturbed. That 
this is a science capable of demonstration, becomes 
clear to the minds of those patients who reason 
upon the process of their cure. The truth which 
he establishes in the patient cures him (although 
he may be wholly unconscious thereof), and the 
body, which is full of light, is no longer in dis- 
ease.' ' Is it any wonder Mrs. Eddy forbids her 
followers to read or listen to anything against 
Christian Science? Doesn't such warning look sus- 
173 



THIRTY YEARS ON THE FIRING-LINE 

picious? There is so much truth to condemn it 
that no one would believe it if he knew all about it. 

Just one month after Dr. Quimby 's death (Feb- 
ruary 15, 1866), she wrote a letter to Mr. Julius 
Dresser, and tried to induce him to step forward 
into the place Quimby had vacated, and said : ' ' You 
are more capable of occupying the place than any 
other I know of." You see at this time she had not 
contemplated the great "discovery" which led her 
later to discredit and slander Dr. Quimby for her 
own glory and enrichment. Then she speaks of 
him as a "vulgar mesmerist" or "magnetic 
healer," whose "scribblings" she put into "gram- 
matical form." (Shades of Murray and Pineo!) 
She says: "I used to take his scribblings and fix 
them over for him, and give him my thoughts and 
language, which, as I understood it, were far in 
advance of his." 

In 1868, 1869 and 1870, Mrs. Eddy was teaching 
a system of mental healing which she then said 
she had learned of Dr. P. P. Quimby. From a 
comparison of the Quimby-Glover manuscript in 
the hands of Geo. A. Quimby (son of Dr. Quimby), 
of Belfast, Maine, Mr. Quimby says: "Having 
compared it ["Science and Health"] with my 
father's writings, I find it is a precise copy of 
them." He further says that an opportunity was 
afforded Mrs. Eddy to copy his father's writings, as 
he was accustomed to lend his manuscript to his 
patients, one of whom was Mrs. Eddy. 
174 



CHRISTIAN SCIENCE A FRAUD 

The chapter called "Wayside Hints,' ' in the 
thirty-sixth edition of "Science and Health," was 
not copied from Quimby's writings. It was written 
by her literary expert, Jas. Henry Wiggins, a 
Unitarian minister. He wrote it, she read it 
in her church as one of her sermons, and then 
printed it as her own. So says Mr. Peabody, on 
page 65 of " Religio-medical Masquerade." It 
doesn't look much like she was "a scribe under 
orders" in this place, does it? Seems to me it 
was Jim Henry Wiggins "under orders" from 
Mrs. Eddy. 

You are aware that the Bible and "Science 
and Health" constitute the impersonal pastors of 
her churches. The sermons consist of alternate 
passages, read by a so-called First Reader, from 
"Science and Health," and a so-called Second 
Reader from the Bible. These lessons are all 
chosen by a central committee, and these "puppet" 
readers are not allowed to add one word in ex- 
planation of anything. Article IV., Section 6, of 
her "Rules" reads: "They shall make no remarks 
explanatory of the lesson sermon at any time dur- 
ing the service." Her book is a senseless jargon, 
contradicting the Bible, reason and all human ex- 
perience, and it is self-contradictory in a thou- 
sand instances. Christian Science "ordinances" 
are without "elements," their "prayer-meetings" 
are without "prayers," and their "preaching" 
without "sermons or preachers." 
175 



THIRTY YEARS ON THE FIRING-LINE 

Her book has gone through many editions, and 
many changes, omissions and additions have been 
made. The chapters have been juggled and rear- 
ranged. As a consequence of this, a statement 
made on a certain page in one edition will be on 
a different page in some other edition, or may be 
left out altogether. The first chapter in the sev- 
enty-fourth edition of 1893, for instance, is changed 
to the sixth chapter in the 1909 edition ; the second 
to the seventh; the third to the eighth; the fourth 
to the ninth; the fifth to the tenth, and many 
other changes. 

If you can not verify a quotation which I may 
give, in the edition at hand, do not conclude that 
it is not in her book until you have examined all 
the editions. There is grave reason for doubting 
a "revelation" as being divine, which has needed 
so much doctoring, revising and changing as has 
been given to "Science and Health." This has 
led some people, who are not afraid to think, to 
discard the whole thing as a deliberate fraud in- 
stead of a divine revelation given to Mrs. Eddy in 
1866, or at any other time. 

Mrs. Eddy defines Christian (or divine) Science 
as the "Holy Ghost," which she discovered and 
founded in 1866 (p. 588, line 7). Amazing! but 
this conveys no meaning, as the Holy Ghost is as 
impersonal as her God. You never know what they 
mean by what they say; they use a "cipher," and 
such words as God, Christ, Jesus, Holy Ghost, 
17G 



CHRISTIAN SCIENCE A FRAUD 

Scriptures, sin, prayer, atonement, forgiveness, 
etc., all have given to them special, arbitrary, 
unique meanings not found in any English dic- 
tionary on earth. ''Science and Health" is a 
cryptogram that would tax the genius of an Ig- 
natius Donnelly to unravel. 

Here are some of her definitions taken from 
1 ' Science and Health ' ' : 

1 ' Adam : Belief in original sin, sickness and 
death." 

"Devil: Belief in sin, sickness and death — 
animal magnetism." 

"Mortal Mind: Nothing claiming to be some- 
thing — sin, sickness, death." 

"Hell: Sin, sickness and death." 

As all of these four words mean sin, sickness 
and death, and she says there is no sin, sickness or 
death, then there is no hell, mortal mind. Adam, 
or devil! 

"Flesh: An error of physical belief, an illu- 
sin." 

"Holy Ghost: Christian or Divine Science." 

If that is true, how could she have discovered 
it— the Holy Ghost— in 1866? Blasphemy! 

"Baptism: Submerge in truth." 

"Angels: God's thoughts passing through 
men. ' ' 

"Purse: Laying up treasure in matter. Error." 

"Gihon (a river) : The rights of women 
acknowledged morally, civilly, socially." 
12 177 



THIRTY YEARS ON THE FIRING-LINE 

With such definitions of words, a Christian 
Science breakfast menu should read something as 
follows : 

2 Boiled Ideas — Soft 1 Baked Imagination — Brown 

2 Stewed Mistakes 

1 Error of Mortal Mind— Broiled Rare 

2 Fricasseed Illusions 

1 Cup of Nothing Claiming to be Something 

Serve hot, with real cream and sugar 

Mrs. Eddy's definition of God is confusion 
worse confounded. "God: The divine principle of 
all things. Light, love, truth, good, are not attri- 
butes of Deity, but the highest terms to express 
Deity itself. All is mind, and mind is God" 
("Science and Health/' p. 171). "The principle 
of divine metaphysics is God. Life is God. God 
is the supreme Being, the only intelligence of the 
universe, including man" (p. 226). "God is the 
principle of man" (p. 466). "Mind is God — man 
the full representation of mind" (p. 582). "It 
is as principle, not as person, that he saves man 
instead of pardons him." 

That is pure atheism. Thus this Christian Sci- 
ence god is principle, not person, and is identical 
with man, mind, nature, and is the "shadowy re- 
sult" of mixing Pantheism, Mysticism, Materialism, 
Transcendentalism, Spiritualism and Hindooism, 
which is the god of the heathen and not the God of 
the Bible. 

178 



CHRISTIAN SCIENCE A FRAUD 



Mrs. Eddy says: "The human family have but 
one God — one mind; hence man and God are all 
one." "God is identical with nature in a sense.' ' 
This reminds me of the infidel's creed: "I believe 
there is no God, but that matter is God, and God 
is matter, and it does not matter whether there 
is any God or not." 

Her book is called "Key to the Scriptures," 
yet it contradicts and flatly denies every cardinal 
doctrine in the Bible, and she is contradicted by 
the Bible in everything she teaches in her blas- 
phemous book, as I will now show by drawing 

"The Deadly Parallel." 



Christian Science. 
Denies the personality of God. 

Denies that Jesus was the 

Christ. 
Denies the personality of the 

Holy Ghost. 
Denies the personality of the 

Devil. 

Denies that man can sin ; that 
he is ever sick; or that he 
can die. 

Denies that matter exists. 



Denies the reality of sin. 



Denies there is any such thing 
as sickness or disease. 

179 



Christian Science Teaches 

That God is principle, not 
person. 

That Christ and Jesus were 
not the same. 

That Christ always existed, 
but Jesus was a phantom. 

That Mary gave birth to an 
idea, not to a babe, in Beth- 
lehem. 

That Jesus (the phantom) has 
disappeared forever. 

That Christ never came in the 
flesh, and that he is never 
coming in the flesh. 

That Christian Science is the 
Holy Ghost. 

That there is no Devil. 



THIRTY YEARS ON THE FIRING-LINE 



Denies that there is any death. 
Denies the atonement. 



Denies regeneration. 
Denies justification. 

Denies sanctification. 



Denies the second coming of 
Christ. 



Denies the resurrection of the 

dead. 
Denies the final judgment. 



That man never sins; is never 
sick; never dies. 

That man is perfect now, al- 
ways was, and always will 
be. 

That matter has no existence. 

That evil or sin is a false be- 
lief. 

That man never fell, can not 
sin, and never is sick and 
never dies. 

That the Bible is composed of 
legends, allegories, fables, 
myths, and is full of errors 
and mistakes. 

That " Science and Health" 
(Mrs. Eddy's book) is "re- 
vealed truth, ' ' uncontami- 
nated and free from error, 
infallible, and is the key to 
the Scriptures. 

All of whdch the Bible affirms. All of which the Bible denies. 

Note. — The above parallel, with some modifica- 
tions, is taken from " Leaves of Healing," Vol. 
XXXVII., No. 3, by permission of Wilbur Glenn 
Voliva. 

Christian Science is so perverse that it never 
affirms the truth, nor denies a falsehood. It in- 
variably denies the truth and affirms the false. 
Hence it is the very essence of Satanic delusion. 

Frederick W. Peabody says: " There has never 
been a scientifically established Christian Science 
cure;" "and let me emphasize this statement, there 
180 



CHRISTIAN SCIENCE A FRAUD 



is not a Christian Science healer, in good and 
regular standing, in the world, who tells the truth, 
or tries to tell the truth, or could tell the truth 
if he tried. They know that suffering is real, they 
know that disease is real, and they know that death 
is the most positive of all realities, and yet they 
perpetually affirm the unreality of these things" 
( " Religio-medical Masquerade," pp. 114, 115). 
The Deadly Parallel. 

Mrs. Eddy says: 
1 ' My first plank in the plat- 
form of Christian Science is 



The Bible says: 

"God created the heavens 
and the earth." — Gen. 10: 1. 

"God formed man out of 
the dust of the ground, and 
breathed into his nostrils the 
breath of life. ' ' — Gen. 2: 7. 

"My substance was not hid 
from thee when I was made 
in secret. Thine eyes did see 
my substance. " — Ps. 130: 15, 
16. 

Of God. 

The Bible says: 

"Our Father which art in 
heaven." — Matt. 6:9. 



"And God spake unto 
Moses and said unto him, I 
am Jehovah."— Ex. 6:2. 

"Seeing he himself giveth 
to all life and breath and all 
things."— Acts 17:25. 



as follows : l There is no sub- 
stance in matter; matter is 
mortal error; matter is un- 
real.' " 

1 ' Nothing we can say or be- 
lieve regarding matter is true 
except that matter is unreal. ' ' 
— "S. and H." (74th Ed., p. 
173, 1893). 

Of God. 

1 ' Science and Health ' ' says : 

' ' Father-Mother is the name 
for deity."— "S. and H." 
(332-4, 1907 Ed.). 

"The Jewish tribal Jeho- 
vah was a man-projected 
God" (140-23). 

"God without the image 
and likeness of Himself would 
be a nonentity. Spiritual 
man is the image or idea of 
God" (320-25). 
181 



THIRTY YEARS ON THE FIRING-LINE 



Of Man. 
The Bible says: 

"And God created man in 
his own image. " — Gen. 1: 27- 
31. 

"Before Abraham was I 
am."— -John 8: 53. 

"Therefore as through one 
man sin entered into the 
world and death through sin, 
and so death passed unto all 
men, for that all sinned. ,, — 
Eom. 5 : 12. 



Atonement. 
The Bible says: 

"Who his own self bare 
our sins in his body upon the 
tree."— 1 Pet. 2:24. 

"Unto him that loved us 
and loosed us from our sins 
by his blood."— Rev. 1: 57. 

"So Christ was once of- 
fered to bear the sins of 
many."— Heb. 9: 26-28. 

"But this man, when he 
had offered one sacrifice for 
sins for ever, sat down on the 
right hand of God."— Heb. 
10:12. 



Of Man. 

"Science and Health ' ' 
says: 

"Harmonious and immortal 
man has existed forever" 
(320-15). 

"In the order of divine 
Science God and man coexist 
and are eternal" (p. 336, line 
29). 

"Never born and never dy- 
ing, it were impossible for 
man, under the government of 
God, in eternal Science to fall 
from his high estate" (258- 
27). 

Atonement. 
"Science and Health ' ' 



* ' One sacrifice, however 
great, is insufficient to pay 
the debt of sin" (23-3). 

"Paul writes: 'For if when 
we were enemies we were rec- 
onciled to God by the [seem- 
ing] death of his Son' " (45- 
9). 

(She here denies both the 
death and sacrifice of Christ. 
His death was only ' ' seem- 
ing, ' 9 and His sacrifice insuffi- 
cient for sin, for of course 
there is no such thing as 
sin!) 

182 



CHRISTIAN SCIENCE A FRAUD 



Of Prayer. 

The Bible says: 

"And he spake a parable 
unto them to this end, that 
men ought always to pray, 
and not to faint.' ' — Luke 
18: 1. 

"I will therefore that men 
pray everywhere. ' ' — 1 Tim. 2 : 
8. 

* ' I will pray with the spirit, 
and I will pray with the 
understanding also." — 1 Cor. 
14:15. 

"Pray without ceasing.' ' — 
1 Thess. 5 : 17. 

"Pray one for another." — 
Jas. 5 : 16. 

"Pray for them which de- 
spitefully use you and perse- 
cute you. ' ' — Matt. 5 : 44. 

"The effectual fervent 
prayer of a righteous man 
availeth much." — Jas. 5:16. 

"Lord, teach us to pray, as 
John taught his disciples. 
And he said, When ye pray, 
say, Our Father which art in 
heaven."— Luke 11: 1, 2. 

"O thou that hearest 
prayer, unto thee shall all 
flesh come."— Ps. 65: 2. 

"And a man stood before 
me in bright clothing, which 
also said, Cornelius, thy 



Of Prayer. 

Mrs. Eddy says: 

"Prayer is useless, and 
pleading with the divine mind 
is an error which impedes 
growth."— "S. and H." (p. 
308). 

1 1 Petitioning a personal 
deity is a misapprehension of 
the sources and means of all 
blessedness." — Vol. XI. (p. 
170). 

"Audible prayer to a per- 
sonal God hinders growth" 
(pp. 312, 394). 

"God is not influenced by 
man" (p. 7, line 23). 

"God is not moved by the 
breath of praise to do more 
than he has already done" 
(2, 8). 

"Prayer to a personal God 
is a hindrance." "Prayer to 
a corporeal God is useless. ' ' — 
"S. and H." (74th Ed., In- 
dex, p. 635). 

"The danger from prayer 
is that it may lead us into 
temptation."— "S. and H." 
(p. 7, 1). 

Here is Mrs. Eddy's ver- 
sion of the Lord's Prayer, as 
given in " Science and 
Health," edition of 1902, 
first chapter: 



183 



THIRTY YEARS ON THE FIRING-LINE 



grayer is heard, and thine 
alms are had in remembrance 
in the sight of God."— Acts 
10:30, 31. 

" Watch and pray, that ye 
enter not into temptation. ' ' — 
Matt. 26: 41. 



Of Mind. 

The Bible says: 

"For the mind of the flesh 
is death, but the mind of the 
Spirit is life and peace." — 
Rom. 8 : 6. 

Or Evil. 

The Bible says: 

"But let your speech be 
Yea, yea; Nay, nay: for 
whatsoever is more than this 
cometh of evil." — Matt. 5: 
37. 

"Be not overcome of evil, 
but overcome evil with good. ' f 
—Rom. 12 : 21. 

"And the Lord said, Be- 
hold, the man is become as 



' ' Our Father-Mother God, 
all harmonious, adorable One. 
Thy kingdom is within us, 
thou art ever present. Enable 
us to know, as in heaven, so 
on earth, God is supreme. 
Give us grace for to-day; 
feed the famished affections. 
And infinite love is reflected 
in love, and love leadeth us 
not into temptation, but de- 
livereth from sin, disease and 
death. For God is now and 
forever all Life, Truth and 
Love. ' ' 

Of Mind. 

Mrs. Eddy says: 

"Mind is not both good 
and bad, for God is mind. ' ' — 
"S. and H." (p. 330, line 
22). 

Of Evil. 

Mrs. Eddy says: 

"Evil is an illusion and 
error and has no real basis. 
It is a false belief" (p. 471). 

"Evil has no reality — it is 
neither person, place nor 
thing, but simply a belief, an 
illusion of material sense" 
(71, 1, 3). 

"The notion that both evil 
and good are real is a delu- 



184 



CHRISTIAN SCIENCE A FRAUD 



one of us to know good and 
evil. ' '—Gen. 3 : 23. 



Time— Age. 

The Bible says: 

"And Noah lived after the 
flood three hundred and fifty 
years. And all the days of 
Noah were nine hundred and 
fifty years: and he died." — 
Gen. 9:28, 29. 

"And when he was twelve 
years old, they went up to 
Jerusalem after the custom of 
the feast."— Luke 2:42. 

"And all the days of 
Methuselah were nine hundred 
sixty and nine years: and he 
died."— Gen. 5:27. 



Of Body, Matter, Spirit. 
The Bible says: 
"But God giveth it a body 
as it pleased him, and to each 



sion of material sense" (330, 
25). 

"A knowledge of evil was 
never the essence of divinity 
or manhood" (537, 9). 

"Matter and evil are un- 
real." — Misc. Writings (p. 
27). 

Time — Age. 

Mrs. Eddy says: ' 

' ' Never record ages. Chron- 
ological data are no part of 
the vast forever. Time tables 
of births and deaths are so 
many conspiracies against 
manhood and womanhood." — 
"S. andH." (246, 17). 

(She falsified her own age. 
She gave her age as forty in 
1877, when she was in fact 
fifty-six — only a little slip of 
sixteen years!) 

(It must be a source of 
deep regret to Christian 
Scientists that Moses could 
not have taken counsel of 
Mrs. Eddy instead of the 
Lord! and he would have 
eliminated Chronicles!) 

Of Body, Matter, Spirit. 
Mrs. Eddy says: 
"If in the beginning man 's 
body originated in non-intelli- 



185 



THIRTY YEARS ON THE FIRING-LINE 



seed a body of its own." — 
1 Cor. 15:38. 

" There are also celestial 
bodies, and bodies terres- 
trial.'*— 1 Cor. 15:40. 

' ' It is sown a natural body, 
it is raised a spiritual body. 
There is a natural body and 
there is a spiritual body." — 
1 Cor. 15:44. 

"And the Lord God formed 
man out of the dust of the 
ground." — Gen. 2: 7. 

"For as the body apart 
from spirit is dead, even so 
faith apart from works is 
dead."— Jas. 2: 26. 

"Know ye not that your 
body is a temple of the Holy 
Ghost, which is in you?" — 1 
Cor. 6:19. 

"And the Word was made 
■flesh, and dwelt among us. ' ' — 
John 1:14. 

"Every spirit that confess- 
eth not that Jesus Christ is 
come in the flesh is not of 
God ; and this is that spirit of 
antichrist whereof ye have 
heard that it should come." — 
1 John 4: 3. 

"For many deceivers are 
gone out into the world, who 
confess not that Jesus Christ 
is coming in the flesh. This 



gent dust, and mind was after- 
ward put into this body by 
the Creator, why is not the di- 
vine order still maintained?" 
(p. 531, 15). 

"What basis is there for 
the theory of indwelling spirit, 
except the claim of mortal 
belief?" (p. 478, 5). 

* ' The conventional firm 
called matter and mind God 
never formed" (p. 274, 25). 

"The mind supposed to ex- 
ist in matter, or beneath a 
skull lone, is a myth" (p. 
281, 18). 

"The mortal body is only 
an erroneous mortal belief of 
mind in matter" (p. 372, 2). 

"As readily can you mingle 
fire and frost as spirit and 
matter" (p. 335, 7). 

"Christian Science shows 
them [the corporeal senses] to 
be false because matter has no 
sensation, and no organic con- 
struction can give it hearing 
and sight, nor make it the me- 
dium of mind" (p. 489, 2-4). 

"Mary's conception of 
Him [Christ] was spiritual" 
(p. 228, 1889; p. 332, 1916). 

"The Virgin Mother con- 
ceived this idea of God, and 
gave to her idea the name of 



186 



CHRISTIAN SCIENCE A FRAUD 



is the deceiver and the anti- 
christ." — 2 John 7. 

"Is coming" — Greek, erko- 
mcnon. (See Jamieson, Faus- 
set & Brown.) 

"God was manifest in the 
flesh, justified in the spirit, 
seen of angels, preached unto 
the Gentiles, believed on in 
the world, received up into 
glory. ' '— 1 Tim. 2 : 16. 



Jesus" (p. 334, 1899; p. 29, 
1916). 

"Jesus was the offspring 
of Mary's self-conscious com- 
munion with God" (p. 335, 
1899). 

"Jesus as material man- 
hood was not Christ. " — Misc. 
Writings (84, 1916). 

"At the time when Jesus 
felt our infirmities, he had not 
conquered all the beliefs of 
the flesh or his sense of mate- 
rial life, nor had he risen to 
his final demonstration of spir- 
itual power." — "S. and H." 
(p. 53, 1916; p. 358, 1899). 

"To accommodate himself 
to immature ideas of spiritual 
power . . . Jesus called the 
body, which ... He raised 
from the grave, ( flesh and 
bones."— "S. and H." (313, 
1909, 1916). 

"These instances show the 
concessions which Jesus was 
willing to make to popular 
ignorance." — "S. and H." 
(p. 398, 1909, 1916). 

(All of this is directly con- 
trary to the teaching of the 
Scriptures, and is a repeated 
denial of the doctrine that 
"Jesus Christ is come in the 
flesh," and is therefore 
ANTICHRIST!) 
187 



THIRTY YEARS ON THE FIRING-LINE 



Of Sin and Pardon. 

The Bible says: 

"If we say we have no sin, 
we deceive ourselves and the 
truth is not in us. If we say 
we have not sinned, we make 
him a liar, and his word is 
not in us."— 1 John 1: 8-10. 

"Our God will abundantly 
pardon." — Isa. 55: 7. 

"Their sins and iniquities 
will I remember no more." — 
Heb. 10: 17. 

"The blood of Jesus his 
Son cleanseth us from all 
sin."— 1 John 1: 7. 

"If we confess our sins, he 
is faithful and just [right- 
eous] to forgive us our sins, 
and to cleanse us from all un- 
righteousness. ' ' — 1 John 1 : 9. 

"Even as the Lord forgave 
you, even also do ye." — Ool. 
3:13. 

"Repent, and be baptized 
every one of you in the name 
of Jesus Christ for the remis- 
sion of sins. ' 9 — Acts 2 : 38. 



Of Sin and Pardon. 

Mrs. Eddy says: 

"Man is incapable of sin, 
sickness and death" (p. 475, 
1916 Ed.). 

"Evil is a false belief" 
(p. 464, 74th Ed., 1893; 476, 
1899; 480, 1916). 

"It is the sense of sin, and 
not the sinful soul, which 
must be lost" (p. 311, 1916). 

"To seek salvation through 
pardon is to misinterpret 
God."— "S. and H." (p. 181, 
1893). 

1 ( There is no forgiveness of 
sin; we must pay the utter- 
most farthing." "We can- 
not escape the penalty due to 
sin." (And yet she says 
"there is no sin"!) 

"God never pardons our 
sins — sin is not forgiven." — 
"S. and H." (74th Ed., pp. 
310-312, and Vol. II., p. 265). 

She says : " The real man 
cannot depart from holiness, 
nor can God, by whom man is 
evolved, engender the capac- 
ity or freedom to sin" (p. 
475, line 28). 

"God, or good, never made 
man capable of sin" (p. 480, 
line 19). 



188 



CHRISTIAN SCIENCE A FRAUD 



Marriage. 

The Bible says: 

" Marriage is honorable in 
all. ' '— Heb. 13 : 4. 

"Now the Spirit speaketh 
expressly, that in the latter 
times some shall depart from 
the faith, giving heed to se- 
ducing spirits, and doctrines 
of devils; speaking lies in hy- 
pocrisy; having their con- 
science seared as with a hot 
iron; forbidding to marry, 
and commanding to abstain 
from meats, which God hath 
created to be received with 
thanksgiving of them which 
believe and know the truth.' ' 
— 1 Tim. 4 : 1-3. 



On Sickness, Pain, Death 
and the Judgment. 

The Bible says : 

' ' They brought unto him all 
that were sick." — Mark 1: 3. 

' ' He healed many that were 
sick."— Mark 6: 13. 

"They that are whole need 
not a physician, but they that 
are sick. ' >— Matt. 9 : 12. 



Marriage. 

Mrs. Eddy: 

Mrs Eddy placed a ban on 
marriage, and said: "It is 
not good to marry." 
"Science indicates that celib- 
acy is nearer right than mar- 
riage." But she says: "To 
abolish marriage at this 
period, and maintain genera- 
tion, would put ingenuity to 
ludicrous shifts, yet this is 
possible in Science." 

1 ' Until time matures human 
growth, marriage and progeny 
will continue unprohibited in 
Christian Science." In her 
dedication sermon, June, 1906, 
she denounced marriage as 
' l synonymous with legalized 
lust." (See Christian Science 
Sentinel, June 16, 1906, and 
Christian Science Journal of 
July, 1906). 

On Sickness, Pain, Death 
and the Judgment. 

Mrs. Eddy says: 

' ' Man is never sick. ' ' — * ' S, 
and H" (p. 401). 

"The sick through belief 
have induced their own stiff 
joints and cramped muscles." 
' ' Sickness is always hallucina- 
tion" (p. 406). 



189 



THIRTY YEARS ON THE FIRING-LINE 



"Erastus abode at Corinth, 
but Trophimus I left at Mile- 
tus sick."— 2 Tim. 4: 20. 

" Jesus went about healing 
all manner of diseases and all 
manner of sickness among the 
people. ' ' — Matt. 4 : 23. 

"And it came to pass in 
those days that she fell sick 
and died. ' '—Acts 9 : 37. 

"But S i m o n's wife's 
mother lay sick of a fever." 
—Mark 1 : 30. 

' ' They brought unto him all 
that were diseased, and them 
that were possessed with dev- 
ils. ' '—Mark 1 : 32. 

"Blessed are the dead who 
die in the Lord." — Rev. 14: 
13. 

"These all died in faith." 
— Heb. 11 : 13. 

"For in Adam all die, even 
so in Christ shall all be made 
alive."— 1 Cor. 15: 22. 

"It is appointed unto man 
once to die, but after this the 
judgment."— Heb. 9: 27. 

' ' Then Jesus said unto them 
plainly, Lazarus is dead." — 
John 11 : 14. 

"And as he reasoned of 
righteousness, temperance and 
judgment to come, Felix trem- 
bled. "—Acts 24 : 25. 



' ' Argue with the patient 
that he has no disease. Sick- 
ness is a dream from which 
the patient needs to be awak- 
ened" (p. 410). 

"The belief that pain and 
pleasure, life and death, holi- 
ness and unholiness mingle in 
man is a fatal error." — "S. 
and H." (Ed. 1907, p. 303, 
line 21). 

"We say that man suffers 
from the effects of cold, heat, 
fatigue. This is human belief, 
not the truth of being" (p. 
184, 18). 

"Man is never sick, for 
mind is not sick, and matter 
cannot be" (p. 393, 29). 

"What is termed disease 
does not exist" (p. 188, 3). 

"If the body is diseased, 
this is but one of the beliefs 
of mortal mind" (p. 425, 14). 

"Truth makes no laws to 
regulate sickness, sin and 
death, for these are unknown 
to truth, and should not be 
recognized as reality" (p. 
184, 1). 

"The body cannot die." 
"There is no death." "His 
disciples believed Jesus dead 
while he was hidden in the 
sepulchre, whereas he was 



190 



CHRISTIAN SCIENCE A FRAUD 



' ' The men of Nineveh shall 
rise in judgment with this 
generation, and shall condemn 
it." "The queen of the 
south shall rise up in the 
judgment with this genera- 
tion, and shall condemn it." 
—Matt. 12 : 41, 42. 

"When the Son of man 
shall come in his glory, and 
all the holy angels with him, 
then shall he sit upon the 
throne of his glory," etc. — 
Matt. 25 : 31, 32. 

"For we shall all stand be- 
fore the judgment-seat of 
Christ."— Kom. 14: 10. 



alive."— "S. and H." (pp. 
424, 426, 350). 

"They saw him after his 
resurrection and learned he 
had not died" (p. 46, Ed. 
1909). 

"Nothing that lives ever 
dies, and vice versa" (p. 374, 
29). 

(That is what the devil 
said to Eve in the garden: 
"Ye shall not surely die." 
He now uses Mrs. Eddy to 
affirm it for him.) 

"Matter and death are 
mortal illusions" (289, 29). 

"Man is incapable of sin, 
sickness and death" (475, 



"Jesus restored Lazarus by 
understanding that Lazarus 
had never died, not by the ad- 
mission that his body had 
died and then lived again" 
(p. 75, 15). 

"When you can awaken 
yourself, or others, out of the 
belief that all must die, you 
can then exercise Jesus' spir- 
itual power to reproduce the 
presence of those who have 
thought tliey died" (p. 75, 
21). 

"No final judgment awaits 
mortals; for the judgment- 
day of wisdom comes hourly, 
191 



THIRTY YEARS ON THE FIRING-LINE 

and continually, even the 
judgment by which mortal 
man is divested of all mate- 
rial error." (Mrs. Eddy de- 
fined ' 'purse," "money," as 
error.) "As for spiritual 
error, there is none" (p. 291. 
30). 

Christian Science wants to be let alone (so did 
the devils whom Jesus cast out of the man amongst 
the tombs — Luke 8: 28), and its adherents viciously 
resent criticism, and, like Roman Catholicism, the 
cult refuses either to hear or read the other side, 
which is the very essence of bigotry. 

Eddyism has no standing in logic, science or 
Christianity. It is infidelity and apostasy. It has 
no sin, no Saviour, no death, no resurrection, no 
judgment, no heaven, no hell. It offers but one 
appeal: "I have been healed, cured or helped by 
it." I do not know of a single pervert to Chris- 
tian Science aside from those who have been influ- 
enced by its healings, and therefore they have ac- 
cepted its irrational, incongruous, contradictory, 
absurd and blasphemous "dogmas" as "divine 
truth"; which God (and not Dr. Quimby) re- 
vealed to Mary Baker G. Eddy in 1866, and lo, 
a system of therapeutics becomes a religion! 

But where are its hospitals, orphanages, homes 
for the poor and aged? Ah! there are no sick, 
no poor, no aged, no orphans! That's all in your 
192 



CHRISTIAN SCIENCE A FRAUD 

mortal mind, which is defined as "nothing claim- 
ing to be something"! But Jesus says: "Ye have 
the poor with you always" (Mark 14:7). 

Mark Twain says: "I have hunted, hunted 
and hunted, by correspondence and otherwise, and 
have not yet got upon the track of a farthing 
that the trust has spent upon any worthy object. 
Nothing makes a Scientist so uncomfortable as to 
ask him if he knows of a case where Christian 
Science has spent money on a benevolence, either 
among its own adherents or elsewhere. He is 
obliged to say 'No.' They spend their money for 
automobiles, fine clothes, jewels and other external 
marks of material prosperity, and in the erection 
of magnificent temples in which to glorify, praise 
and extol Mary Baker G. Eddy, the nineteenth- 
century claimant of infallibility, the 'Feminine 
Popess' of Boston, Massachusetts." 

Christian Science healings do not prove its 
teachings, for mental healers, faith healers, prayer 
healers, Mormon healers, Spiritualist healers and 
Christian Science healers all meet with equal suc- 
cess. 

The same class of diseases is cured by all these 
non-medicated processes; viz., the functional neu- 
roses. I have personally tested the effectiveness 
of such cures in what is known as ' ' The Emmanuel 
Movement." We could cure Gentile, Jew, pagan 
or Christian, with or without faith, nor did we ask 
or expect acceptance of any form of religion be- 
13 193 



THIRTY YEARS ON THE FIRING-LINE 

cause of the cures performed. But Christian Sci- 
ence will destroy your faith in the essentials of 
Christianity, and damn your soul, to cure you of 
some imaginary disease, or, at most, a functional 
disorder. 

Christian Science is a crazy-quilt, patterned 
by Dr. Quimby, and pieced by Mrs. Eddy. The 
chief puzzle consists in telling where the pieces 
eame from. It is a slumber robe for neurotics, 
who crawl under it and hypnotize themselves rum- 
maging through its senseless intricacies. The 
nearer crazy they are to begin with, the greater 
the likeness, and when unwisdom becomes wisdom, 
and the false becomes true, then liars become 
prophets, fools are philosophers, and Satan is God. 



194 



THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST 



XVI 

THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST AND 
THE END OF THE WORLD 

(Read carefully the twenty-fourth and twenty-fifth chapters 
of Matthew.) 

Text. — "Ye men of Galilee, why stand ye looking into 
heaven? this Jesus, who was received up from you into 
heaven, shall so come in like manner as ye beheld him going 
into heaven."— Acts 1: 11— R. V. 

I DO not aim to be either dogmatic or sensa- 
tional, nor have I sought for popularity. Though 
the above is a very popular subject now, and brings 
out the largest congregations, it was not so when I 
first began to preach it. I have not aimed merely 
to please, but to profit my hearers always. Many 
will not preach on this subject for fear of criticism 
both within and without the church. Rev. Mark 
A. Matthews, of Seattle, the pastor of the largest 
Presbyterian church in the world, preached, during 
the spring of 1917, a series of Sunday night ser- 
mons on this subject. In one of his introductions 
he said: " There is no fact that seems to draw out 
the enmity, anger, hatred and persecution, like 
14 195 



THIRTY YEARS ON THE FIRING-LINE 

this doctrine of the second coming of Christ. Were 
it preached as faithfully as it ought to be preached, 
it would produce indescribable persecutions — not 
so much from the sin-cursed, unregenerate world, 
as from the unregenerate part inside the visible 
church. There are preachers, so-called, who pre- 
tend to be ministers of the gospel of Christ, who 
stand in their pulpits and ridicule the doctrine. I 
would to God that Jesus would come before I 
finish." 

Two hundred years ago Sir Isaac Newton said: 
" About the time of the end, in all probability, a 
body of men will be raised up who will turn their 
attention to the prophecies, and insist upon their 
literal interpretation in the midst of much clamor 
and opposition." 

From the days of the apostles, and the decla- 
ration of the angels at the ascension of Jesus, His 
people have looked for, prayed for and hoped for 
His return. In this connection we have heard 
much of the millennium, which only means "thou- 
sand years." 

The second coming of Jesus is mentioned 318 
times in the 260 chapters of the New Testament, 
an average of once in every twenty-five verses. 
His first coming is mentioned 1,585 times in the 
829 chapters of the Old Testament, and yet com- 
paratively few were looking for Him when He did 
come — "He came to his own, and his own received 
him not." "He is coming a second time without 
196 



THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST 

sin [sin-offering] unto salvation," and but few are 
looking for Him now. I, personally, believe that 
Jesus will come before the millennium, or one thou- 
sand years of peace. I am a Chiliast, or pre- 
millenarian. So were Luther, Milton, Newton, 
Watts, Wesley, Hermas, Justin, and all the mar- 
tyrs. Amongst the moderns are Spurgeon, Moody, 
Newman Hall, Arthur T. Pearson, F. B. Meyer, 
R. A. Torrey, Jas. M. Gray and Billy Sunday, and 
this was the faith of the primitive church. 

Daniel Whitby is responsible for the doctrine of 
post-millennialism. He taught the people to spirit- 
ualize everything that offered any difficulty to one's 
faith from a literal interpretation. This has gone 
on until it has reached its climax in modern moon- 
shine exegesis, in which but one thing is clearly 
literal, and that is literal unbelief of the word of 
God! Literal infidelity! " There shall come in the 
last days scoffers, walking after their own lusts, 
and saying, Where is the promise of his coming? 
for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue 
as they were from the beginning of the creation. 
. . . The Lord is not slack concerning his promises, 
as some men count slackness; but is longsuffering 
to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but 
that all should come to repentance. But the day 
of the Lord will come as a thief in the night; in 
the which the heavens shall pass away with a great 
noise, and the elements shall melt with fervent 
heat, the earth also and the works that are therein 
197 



THIRTY YEARS ON THE FIRING-LINE 

shall be burned up. Seeing then that all these 
things shall be dissolved, what manner of persons 
ought ye to be in all holy conversation and godli- 
ness?" (2 Pet. 3:4-11). 

In the twenty-fourth chapter of Matthew the 
disciples (Peter, James, John and Andrew — Mark 
13:3), as Jesus sat on the mount of Olives, asked 
Him three questions just after His prediction of 
the destruction of Solomon's temple; viz.: (1) Tell 
us when shall these things be? (2) What shall be 
the sign of thy coming? and (3) of the end of the 
world? After a preface extending from the fourth 
to the fourteenth verses, He tells them: ''This gos- 
pel of the kingdom shall be preached in all the 
world for a witness unto all nations, and then shall 
the end [of the Jewish nation] come." The end of 
the Jewish nation was, of course, simultaneous with 
the destruction of the temple, which took place in 
the year 70 A. D., under Titus. A graphic descrip- 
tion of the siege and fall of Jerusalem is given by 
the Master from the fifteenth to the twenty-second 
verses. He first tells His disciples when to "flee 
into the mountains" — when they should see the 
"abomination of desolation stand in the holy 
place" — and thus escape the horrors of the awful 
"tribulation." They watched for that sign, and, 
after the Eoman army had encompassed the city, 
they fled to the mountains. Josephus says: "Ces- 
tius Gallius, after beginning the siege, mysteriously 
withdrew, without any reason in the world, and 
198 



THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST 

many [the disciples] embraced this opportunity to 
depart: a great multitude fled to the mountains. " 
He also tells us that 1,356,460 perished in the siege, 
and 101,700 were sold into slavery. That siege 
only lasted five months, from April 14 to Septem- 
ber 8. If it had continued into the winter, the 
disciples in the mountains would have perished 
from cold and hunger, ''but for the elect's [the 
disciples] sake, those days shall be shortened." 
Jesus warned them not to expect His coming at 
that time (vs. 23-28). 

After thus answering their first question, He 
proceeds to the second: "What shall be the sign 
of thy coming?" In the twenty-ninth verse He 
tells them of the apostasy that should come, and 
then tells of the sign of His coming, and not of 
His coming. "Then shall appear the sign of the 
Son of man in heaven: . . . and he shall send his 
angels with a great sound of a trumpet, and they 
shall gather together his elect from the four winds, 
from one end of heaven to the other." This is 
the rapture, or "first resurrection," which takes 
place before He comes to earth to establish His 
millennial kingdom, at which time He brings all 
those elect ones back with Him, and they live and 
reign with Him a thousand years. This is the 
"fig-tree sign." The first resurrection bears the 
same relation to His coming that the tender leaves 
of the budding fig-tree do to the approaching sum- 
mer. 

199 



THIRTY YEARS ON THE FIRING-LINE 

Before giving His answer to the third question, 
He exhorts them, and every one, to be prepared 
for the sign (first resurrection) of His coming. 
The record is found from the thirty-fourth verse 
of the twenty-fourth chapter, to the thirty-first 
verse of the twenty-fifth chapter, all of which is a 
postlude to the second question, including the para- 
ble of the ten virgins, and the parable of the tal- 
ents. He also tells them that "this generation 
[meaning the generation of Abraham, the Jews] 
shall not pass till all these things be fulfilled.' ' 
This marvelous prediction has been amazingly ful- 
filled in the preservation of the Jews as the most 
separate and distinct people on earth, and yet they 
have had neither king nor country of their own 
for over eighteen hundred years. 

He now comes to the third question, "the end 
of the world?" As they only asked for the sign 
of His coming, and not of His coming itself, He 
passes over the millennial reign of one thousand 
years, and tells of the end of the world from the 
thirty-first verse to the end of the twenty-fifth 
chapter. He tells of the judgment: "And before 
him shall be gathered all nations, and he shall sepa- 
rate them from one another as a shepherd divideth 
his sheep from the goats. . . . And these shall go 
away into everlasting punishment: but the right- 
eous into life eternal.' ' 

Much of the Bible has a figurative meaning. 
Jesus taught largely by parables, but it is not all 
200 



THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST 

figurative. The following must be taken as literal: 
Luke 1:31-33. The angel Gabriel said to Mary: 
"And, behold, thou shalt conceive and bring forth 
a son, and shalt call his name JESUS. He shall 
be great, and shall be called the Son of the Most 
High." All agree that the above is literal, because 
it is fulfilled; but the next two statements some 
think must be figurative, but they are just as literal 
as the first, only they remain to be fulfilled in the 
near future. "And the Lord shall give unto him 
the throne of his father David: and he shall reign 
over the house of Jacob for ever [or Greek, "unto 
the ages;" that is, for one thousand years] ; and of 
his kingdom there shall be no end," but He will 
"deliver up the kingdom to God, even the Father; 
when he shall have put down all rule and all 
authority and power" (1 Cor. 15:24). "And 
when all things shall be subdued unto him, then 
shall the Son also himself be subject unto him 
that put all things under him, that God may be 
all in all" (1 Cor. 15:28). 

"When Jesus comes He will destroy that 
"wicked" (one) antichrist, the man of sin, with 
the "spirit of his mouth," and the "brightness of 
his coming" (2 Thess. 2:8). As antichrist does 
not arise after the millennium, and Christ destroys 
him when he comes, Christ's coming must of neces- 
sity be before the millennium. 

Again, the righteous are raised from amongst 
the dead at His appearing (in the clouds), and 
201 



THIRTY YEARS ON THE FIRING-LINE 

He brings them back with Him when He comes, 
and they live and reign with Him a thousand years, 
hence He comes before the millennium. 

Here are the three great literal facts: (1) Jesus 
has been on this earth; (2) He is now at the right 
hand of God, making intercession for us; (3) He 
is coming again. 

Heb. 9:24-28: "For Christ is not entered into 
the holy places made with hands, which are the 
figures of the true; but into heaven itself, now to 
appear in the presence of God for us: nor yet that 
he should offer himself often, as the high priest 
entereth into the holy place every year [on the day 
of atonement annually] with the blood of others 
[animals] ; for then must he often have suffered 
since the foundation of the world: but now once in 
the end of the world [end of the Jewish nation] 
hath he appeared to put away sin by the sacrifice 
of himself. ... So Christ was once offered to bear 
the sins of many ; and unto them that look for him 
shall he appear the second time without sin [a sin- 
offering — Greek] unto salvation." 

In the partaking of the Lord's Supper we show 
our hope of His second coming, and thus preach 
it to others. Jesus says: "I will not drink hence- 
forth of this fruit of the vine, until that day when 
I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom' ' 
(Matt. 26: 29). "For as often as ye eat this bread 
and drink this cup ye do show [proclaim— R. V.] 
the Lord's death till he come" 
202 



THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST 

All of God's dealing with man has been, and 
still is, a matter of government. Religion is rule — 
the rule of God. Man is a finite being with infinite 
interests, and only infinite power, wisdom and 
goodness can properly conserve and direct the 
affairs of mankind. 

Man has tried to govern himself ever since his 
fall, and God has allowed him six thousand years 
of unsuccessful trial and experiment in the way 
of self-government, only suggesting to him, but 
not compelling him. But it has all resulted in 
failure, humiliation and disaster. I do not know 
how much longer the trial is to continue, but I do 
know that it will all result in failure! Man can 
not successfully govern the world. The patriarchal 
government from Adam to Moses failed. The Mo- 
saic government was a failure, and passed away. 
Then came Cassar and the Eoman Government, and 
Rome declined and fell, and we have the decimated 
" ten-toed" successor of the Roman Empire to-day, 
and the recent world war proved it the greatest 
failure of them all! Why? Because all the past 
forms of world government have been based upon 
the wrong principle. They have been based upon 
poiver and authority, either assumed or delegated. 
Assumed as in Prussia — delegated as in the United 
States. 

These must and will give way to the reign of 
Jesus Christ, which will be successful, and will 
never be destroyed. "Of his kingdom there shall 
203 



THIRTY YEARS ON THE FIRING-LINE 

be no end." "And in the days of these kings 
shall the God of heaven set up a kingdom which 
shall never be destroyed" (Dan. 2:44, 45). This 
is the "stone kingdom" or fifth great kingdom — 
"the stone cut out of the mountain without hands 
which smites the image [world government] upon 
its feet, that were of iron and clay." "Then was 
the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver and the 
gold broken to pieces together, and became like 
the chaff of the summer threshing-floors; and the 
wind carried them away, that no place was found 
for them; and the stone [Christ's kingdom] became 
a great mountain [government] and filled the 
whole earth" (Dan. 2:34, 35). 

Christ's kingdom is founded on love, and love 
is the only power that can ever successfully govern 
the world, or the individual man. The Jews tried 
law plus religion ; the Greeks tried culture and art ; 
the Romans tried force — all failed. The Jew has 
been scattered to the four winds of heaven, and 
oppressed, for two thousand years. The Greek, 
who polished the brains of the world, now polishes 
shoes. "How are the mighty fallen!" 

General Bertrand asked Napoleon: "How can 
you believe in Jesus Christ?" Napoleon replied: 
"I know men, and I tell you that Jesus is not a 
man. Alexander, Caesar, Charlemagne and myself 
founded empires upon force. But Jesus Christ 
founded an empire upon love; and at this hour 
millions of men would die for Him. I die before 
204 



THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST 

my time, and my body will be given back to earth 
to become food for worms. Such is the fate of him 
who has been called 'the great Napoleon.' What 
an abyss between my deep misery and the eternal 
kingdom of Christ, which is proclaimed, loved, 
adored, and is still existing over the whole earth.' ' 
Then, turning to General Bertrand, the Emperor 
added: "Sir, if you do not perceive that Jesus 
Christ is God, then I did wrong in appointing you 
a general." 

The great, golden-headed image of earthly gov- 
ernments will all fail and pass away. The passing 
of the very toes of that image is now staged upon 
the earth. 

The church is Christ's kingdom in preparation. 
Only those who are willing to be ruled by love ever 
can get into the church, and if they continue to be 
ruled thus to the end, they "fall asleep in Jesus," 
and when the first resurrection comes all such will 
be raised and go (with the living saints) up to 
meet Him in the air, and will return with Him 
when He comes back, and rule and reign with Him 
in His kingdom for a thousand years — a millennium. 

1 Cor. 15: 19-26: "If in this life only we have 
hope in Christ, we are of all men most miserable. 
But now is Christ risen from the dead, and become 
the firstfruits of them that slept. For since by 
man came death, by man came also the resurrec- 
tion of the dead. For as in Adam all die, even so 
in Christ shall all be made alive. But every man 
205 



THIRTY YEARS ON THE FIRING-LINE 

in his own order [band — Greek] : Christ the first- 
fruits; afterwards they that are Christ's at his 
coming [in the clouds — the rapture, or first resur- 
rection]. Then cometh the end [or resurrection 
of the wicked] when he shall deliver up the king- 
dom to God, even the Father; when he shall have 
put all enemies under his feet. The last enemy 
that shall be destroyed is death." 

1 Cor. 15:28: "And when all things shall be 
subdued unto him, then shall the Son also himself 
be subject unto him that put all things under him, 
that God may be all in all." 

1 Thess. 4:13-18: "But I would not have you 
to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them that are 
asleep [in Jesus] , that ye sorrow not, even as others 
which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus 
died and rose again, even so them also which sleep 
in Jesus will God bring with him. For this we say 
unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which 
are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord 
shall not prevent [go before, or ahead of] them 
which are asleep [in Jesus]. For the Lord himself 
shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the 
voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God : 
and the dead in Christ shall rise first: then we 
which are alive and remain shall be caught up 
together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord 
in the air; and so shall we ever [after that] be 
with the Lord. Wherefore comfort one another 
with these words." 

206 



THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST 

1 Cor. 15:51, 52: " Behold, I shew you a mys- 
tery; We shall not all sleep [in Jesus; that is, 
shall not all die], but we shall all be changed, in 
a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last 
trump : for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead 
shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be 
changed. ' ' 

Are you ready for the coming of the Lord? 
"Watch! "Then shall two be in the field; the one 
shall be taken, and the other left. Two grinding 
at the mill; the one shall be taken, and the other 
left. Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour 
your Lord doth come" (Matt. 24:40-42). 

Rev. 20 : 4-15 : ' ' And I saw thrones, and they 
that sat upon them, and judgment was given unto 
them: and I saw the souls of them that were 
beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word 
of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, 
neither his image, neither had received his mark 
upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they 
lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years." 
This describes the one thousand years' reign of 
Jesus and those that are ruling with him — just 
those that had part in the first resurrection. "But 
the rest of the dead lived not again until 
the thousand years were finished. This is the first 
resurrection. Blessed and holy is he that hath part 
in the first resurrection; on such the second death 
hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and 
of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand 
207 



THIRTY YEARS ON THE FIRING-LINE 

years" (verses 5 and 6. During that time Satan 
is bound in the bottomless pit), "And when the 
thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed 
out of his prison, and shall go out to deceive the 
nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, 
Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: 
the number of whom is as the sand of the sea." 

And now we have a description of the last at- 
tempt to use force in the control of the world. 
"And they went up on the breadth of the earth, 
and compassed the camp of the saints about, and 
the beloved city [Jerusalem] : and fire came down 
from God out of heaven, and devoured them. And 
the devil that deceived them was cast into the 
lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast [the 
Papacy] and the false prophet [Mohammedanism] 
are [and had been there for one thousand years, 
and now the devil, which is paganism, is cast into 
the same place], and shall be tormented day and 
night for ever and ever." Now Jesus has over- 
come all enemies except death, and he now over- 
comes that by immediately raising the balance of 
the dead, the wicked, and the judgment is set. 

"And I saw the dead, small and great, stand 
before God; and the books [Old and New Testa- 
ments] were opened; and another book was opened, 
which is the book of life [your life and mine] : and 
the dead were judged out of those things which 
were written in the books [Old and New Testa- 
ments], according to their works [lives]." 
208 



THE SECOND COMING OF CHRIST 

"And the sea gave up the dead which were in 
it; and death and the grave [Hades] delivered 
up the dead which were in them; and they were 
judged every man according to their works. And 
death and the grave [or those who were therein] 
were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second 
death. And whosoever was not found written in 
the book of life was cast into the lake of fire" 
(Rev. 20; 15), 



I have always been passionately fond of a copi- 
ous spring. To me it is the fittest emblem of the 
goodness of God. Ever flowing, sparkling, refresh- 
ing and life-sustaining, from a source unseen, but 
never ceasing. So is the sweet, unfailing love and 
mercy of our heavenly Father. 



209 



£ 



THIRTY YEARS ON THE FIRING-LINE 



SOME QUESTIONS ASKED AND ANSWERED 
IN REVIVAL MEETINGS 

Question. Why do you call yourselves Chris- 
tians? 

Answer. Because we are Christians, and an 
authorized name is better than an unauthorized 
one. a Scriptural name is safer than an unscrip- 
tural one. 

Q. Why do you preach baptism so much? 

A. To induce you to practice it more, and to 
overcome the great amount of preaching and preju- 
dice against this ordinance of our Lord. 

Q. Is there probation beyond this life? 

A. If so, I do not know it, but I know there is 
probation now, and I shall not neglect a certainty 
for a doubtful contingency. 

Q. I have heard that your church has a creed, 
though you deny it. Will you please tell us the 
truth about it? 

A. Yes, we have a creed. It is the Bible, espe- 
cially the New Testament. We make war on all 
human creeds, and we believe them to be schis- 
matical and inimical to Christian union. 
211 



THIRTY YEARS ON THE FIRING-LINE 

Q. If God is omnipotent, why don't He kill the 
devil? 

A. That would make an orphan out of you. 
John 8 : 44 : "Ye are of your father the devil, and 
the lusts of your father it is your will to do" (R. 
V.). And again, why kill the leader and not kill 
his followers? That would catch you again! Be- 
sides, we must overcome evil of good, and not by 
killing devils, big or little. 

Q. Do you believe in the eternal punishment 
of the wicked? 

A. Just as certainly as I believe in the eternal 
reward of the righteous. 

Q. Why don't you baptize infants? 

A. Because there is neither precept nor example, 
reason nor revelation for it. 

Q. Where did Cain get his wife? 

A. Doubtless where husbands were scarce, else 
she would have made a better choice! And there 
are others. When serious, sensible ( ?) people ask 
this question, we give a serious answer by referring 
them to Gen. 5 : 4, and informing them that events 
are not given here in their exact chronological 
order. S. M. Martin. 



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